Front and rear upper aprons in a crop material roll forming machine

ABSTRACT

A roll forming machine picks up crop material and forms, twine wraps and discharge rolls or large round bales thereof as the machine is continuously moving across the field. The machine has a mobile frame supporting a pickup and a floor, the latter supporting a lower conveyor. A front upper apron is supported by the frame above a rear portion of the lower conveyor and floor and defines a rear roll forming region therewith. Also, rear upper apron is supported by the frame above a rear portion of the lower conveyor and floor and defines a rear roll forming region therewith. Also, drive means is provided for moving the pickup and lower conveyor and also for moving the upper aprons each in a direction opposite to that in which the lower conveyor is moved for performing roll forming operations at the front and rear regions. Further, a twine wrapping mechanism is supported by the frame above the lower conveyor and between the front and rear upper aprons and is operable for twine wrapping a roll formed at the rear region of the machine.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Reference is hereby made to the following co-pending U.S. applicationsdealing with related subject matter and assigned to the assignee of thepresent invention:

1. "Synchronizing Roll Forming and Wrapping Operations in a CropMaterial Roll Forming Machine" by Aquila D. Mast, U.S. Ser. No. 656,661,now U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,559, filed Feb. 9, 1976.

2. "Controlling the Size of a Roll Core Formed in a Crop Material RollForming Machine" by Wilson L. Strausser et al, U.S. Ser. No. 656,663,and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,003, filed Feb. 9, 1976.

3. "Material Layer Diverting Means for a Crop Material Roll FormingMachine" by Aquila D. Mast, U.S. Ser. No. 656,752, filed Feb. 9, 1976.

4. "Mechanism for Opening and Closing a Crop Material Roll FormingRegion in a Roll Forming Machine" by Robert L. Rice et al, U.S. Ser. No.656,753, filed Feb. 9, 1976.

5. "Crop Material Roll Forming Method and Machine" by Jack W. Crane etal, U.S. Ser. No. 656,758, filed Feb. 9, 1976.

6. "Raising and Lowering Mechanism for the Rear Chamber in a CropMaterial Roll Forming Machine" by Robert L. Rice et al., U.S. Ser. No.656,759, filed Feb. 9, 1976.

7. "Bale Actuated Control for the Rear Roll Forming Chamber in a CropMaterial Roll Forming Machine" by Aquila D. Mast, U.S. Ser. No. 656,760and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,711, filed Feb. 9, 1976.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the art of harvesting loosecrop material and, more particularly, is concerned with a method andmachine for forming rolls of crop material, such as large round bales ofhay or the like.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Several decades ago, small roll balers for forming small rolls or roundbales of crop material were reasonably popular for a short time as onemethod of harvesting crop material, such as hay or the like. However,small roll balers failed to successfully compete over the long run withthe predominate method of harvesting hay, that being, the utilization ofautomatic type balers that form the hay into small wire- or twine-tiedrectangular bales. Consequently, the small roll baler method ofharvesting hay has since substantially faded from the hay harvestingscene.

In recent years, the practice of harvesting hay by forming it into largerolls through the use of large roll or round balers has becomeincreasingly popular. One type of large round baler forms a swath orwindrow of hay into a large cylindrical roll or round bale while thelatter is supported on the ground. Another type of large round balerpicks up the swath or windrow of hay and forms it into a large roundbale off the ground. Both of these types of large round balers generallyhave mechanisms for applying twine or similar binding material about thebale once it has reached its desired maximum size. Then, in the case ofboth types of balers, the wrapped bale is discharged from the baler.

In the case of the on-the-ground type of large round baler known up tothe present, the baler must be guided away from the windrowed cropmaterial during the time the twin wrapping and bale dischargingoperations are being carried out since this type of baler is not capableof receiving additional hay until these operations are completed.

In the case of the off-the-ground type of large round baler known up tothe present, the forward movement of the baler must be temporarilysuspended or halted until the twine wrapping and bale dischargingoperations have been completed since this type of baler is also notcapable of receiving additional hay during the performance of theseoperations.

Under certain field and crop conditions, the amount of time consumed inwrapping and discharging bales may approach twenty-five percent of thatspent in actually rolling or forming the hay into indivudal bales whenutilizing either of the on-the-ground or off-the-ground types of largeround balers. It is readily apparent that such state of affairs createsa serious limitation on the potential, long term bale productioncapability of the large round balers. The same was generally true alsoin the case of the now obsolete small round balers.

One attempt to obviate the above-described limitation was proposed inU.S. Pat. No. 3,004,377 in connection with small round baler. Suchproposal related to the provision of auxiliary conveyor means on thebaler to accumulate hay being picked up, by circulating it in an endlesspath on the baler away from the bale forming mechanism, while the balewrapping and discharging phases of the baler operations are beingcarried out at the location of the bale forming mechanism. Then, oncethe latter operations are completed, it was envisioned that hayaccumulated on the baler would be fed into the bale forming mechanism ofthe baler along with hay being picked up from the field to form anotherroll or round bale.

However, certain critical drawbacks are presented by the above-describedproposal. Firs, the continuous circulation of the incoming hay by theauxiliary conveyor, while wrapping and discharging of the roll from thebale forming mechanism is being carried out, will likely result insubstantial leaf losses in such portions of the hay due to over-handlingthereof. Second, it is quite likely that more than enough hay to form abale will soon become accumulated in the auxiliary conveyor of the balerand therefore periodically the machine will probably have to be operatedwhile its forward movement is stopped in order to clean out theauxiliary conveyor. Consequently, the operator would have to give someattention to the auxiliary conveyor part of the baler in order to knowwhen to do this. Third, the continuous circulation of the hay in looseform by the auxiliary conveyor makes it very difficult to maintain thedegree of control over the circulating hay that is necessary in order tosubsequently be able to carry out smooth feeding of the accumulated hayinto the bale forming mechanism of the baler along with hay being pickedup from the field.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiment of the roll forming machine, as disclosedherein, includes various unique features for facilitating continuousmovement of the machine across the field and delivery of crop materialto the machine even during the performance of roll wrapping anddischaring operations by the machine which overcome or avoid thelimitation and drawbacks respectively presented by the prior art roundbalers and the solution proposed in the aforesaid patent.

While these unique features are particularly adapted for facilitatingthe continuous, non-stop formation and discharge of round bales by theroll forming machine disclosed herein, it will be readily apparent thatsome of such features may be incorporated, either singly or together,into conventional round balers and thereby improve the same. Also, someof these features comprise inventions claimed in other copendingapplications, cross-referenced above; however, all are illustrated anddescribed herein for facilitating a complete and thorough understandingof those of the features comprising the present invention.

The present invention relates to those features incorporated by themachine for providing two separate roll forming regions therein. Due tothe provision of two separate roll forming regions in the machine,incoming crop material is constantly being added to a roll beingcompactly formed in either of the two regions. Consequently, there is noover-handling of the crop material, leaf losses due to material handlingare minimized and constant control is maintained over the material whileit is in the machine.

Accordingly, the present invention broadly comprises, in a crop materialroll forming machine, the combination of a mobile frame adapted to moveacross a field, crop material delivery means supported by the frame, afirst or front upper apron assembly supported by the frame above a firstor front portion of the delivery means and a second or rear upper apronassembly supported by the frame above a second or rear portion of thedelivery means. The front upper apron assembly and the front portion ofthe delivery means together define a first or front roll forming regionin the machine. The rear upper apron assembly and the rear portion ofthe delivery means together define a second or rear roll forming regionin the machine.

Furthermore, drive means is provided to drive at least a part of thedelivery means in a predetermined direction for delivering crop materialfrom the field to the first and second roll forming regions and also todrive at least a part of each of the upper apron assemblies in adirection opposite to that of the part of the delivery means forperforming roll forming operations at the regions.

More particularly, means are provided on the mobile frame for supportinga rear portion of the movable part of the front upper apron assembly andfor supporting a rear portion of the movable part of the rear upperapron assembly. Such means are movable for independently raising orlowering the respective rear portions of the movable parts of theassemblies to respectively effectuate the coupling or uncoupling of thedrive means to or from the rear portions of the movable parts of theassemblies so as to move the movable parts or render the samestationary.

Still more particularly, the front upper apron assembly and the deliverymeans, when their movable parts are driven, are cooperable with eachother to initiate formation of a core of a roll of crop material to afirst size. The delivery means, when its movable part is driven, is alsooperable to transfer the roll core from the front region to the rearregion. The rear upper apron assembly and the delivery means, when theirmovable parts are driven, are cooperable with each other to completeformation of the roll to a second size greater than the first size ofthe roll core. The delivery means, when its movable part is driven, isfurther operable to discharge the completed roll from the rear region ofthe machine.

Also, more particularly, mechanism is supported by the mobile frameabove the delivery means at a location generally between the front andrear apron assemblies and is operable to cause wrapping of the completedroll formed at the rear region with twine or the like prior to dischargeof the roll from the machine. The twine wrapping mechanism includes atwine applying component, a twine severing component and means formoving the applying component relative to the roll to cause the wrappingof twine or the like about the roll.

Other advantages and attainments of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the followingdetailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings inwhich there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the course of the following detailed description reference will befrequently made to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a left side elevational view of a crop material roll formingmachine embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a right side elevational view of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the lower portion of the machine of FIG. 1, ona slightly smaller scale, showing the pickup unit, floor and lowerapron, the front chamber floor ramps and the rear chamber bale tripmechanism;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary side elevational view taken alongline 4--4 of FIG. 3, showing one of the pivotal floor ramps of the frontchamber and rotatable means to raise the ramp;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary side elevational view taken alongline 5--5 of FIG. 3, showing the rear chamber bale trip mechanism;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, top plan view of the forward half ofthe machine, with the front and rear upper aprons being omitted and thefloor, lower apron and pickup unit being omitted except for fragmentaryportions thereof;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, left side elevational view of the rear half ofthe machine of FIG. 1, showing the various relative positions of therear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary, front elevational view taken alongline 8--8 of FIG. 1, showing twine wrapping mechanism of the machine;

FIG. 9 is a left side elevational view taken along line 9--9 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary, plan view along line 10--10 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10A is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view taken along 10A--10Ain FIG. 10, showing the positional relationship of the twine strandsthrough the notch;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged, fragmentary, left side elevational view of anupper portion of the machine of FIG. 1, showing most of the componentsof three different groups of control components for synchronizing thecontinuous roll forming, wrapping and discharging operations performedby the machine;

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of the hydraulic components forcontrolling the operation of the front and rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanisms and the twine wrapping mechanism;

FIG. 13 is a front elevational view of the preferred form of cropmaterial layer diverting means associated with the front chamberopening-and-closing mechanism and the rear end of the front upper apron;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 14--14 of FIG.13, also showing the relationship of the teeth of the diverting means tothe transverse bars of the front upper apron as the bars move aroundhubs on a shaft connected to the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of an alternative form of crop materiallayer diverting means attached to aproximately every third one of thetransverse bars of the front upper apron;

FIG. 16 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 16--16 of FIG.15;

FIGS. 17 through 24 are schematic representations of the machine of FIG.1, showing successive stages of the operations performed by the machine,as it is moved across a field, in continuously forming, wrapping anddischarging large rolls or round bales of crop material; and

FIGS. 17A through 24A are schematic representations of various ones ofthe control components of the machine of FIG. 1, showing the respectiverelative positions of the components at the various stages of theoperations performed by the machine correspondingly depicted in FIGS. 17through 24.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the following description, right hand and left hand reference aredetermined by standing at the rear of the machine and facing in thedirection of forward travel. Also, in the following description, it isto be understood that such terms as "forward," "rearward," "left,""upward," etc., are words of convenience and are not to be construed aslimiting terms.

IN GENERAL

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, thereis shown a machine for forming crop material such as hay or the likeinto rolls, commonly referred to as large compact round bales, themachine being indicated generally by numeral 10 and comprising thepreferred embodiment of the present invention (the left side of themachine being shown in FIG. 1 and the right side in FIG. 2 when one isstanding to the rear of the machine and facing in the direction offorward travel).

The machine 10 is provided with a mobile frame, generally indicated at12, which includes left and right longitudinally extending rails 14,16and transverse pipes (not shown) which interconnect the longitudinalrails 14,16. The longitudinal rails 14,16 are respectively supported byleft and right ground wheels 24,26 being rotatably mounted to respectivestub shafts (not shown), each of which is secured to and extendsoutwardly from one of the longitudinal rails 14,16 at an intermediatelocation therealong.

The frame 12 further includes various upright structures respectivelyconnected at their lower ends to the longitudinal rails 14,16, namely,short rearwardly-inclined left and right rear channels 28,30, left andright middle upright rails 32,34 and left and right front upright beam36,38.

The upper ends of corresponding left and right short rear channels 28,30and middle upright rails 32,34 are respectively interconnected byforwardly-inclined left and right side beams 40,42 with left and rightrear side sheets 44,46 respectively secured about their peripheries tocorresponding left and right longitudinal rails 14,16, short rearchannels 28,30, middle upright rails 32,34 and side beams 40,42 so as toclose the side openings respectively formed by these latterinterconnected structures.

Also, an upper rectangular frame structure (see FIG. 6), including frontand middle cross tubes 48, 50 and left and right side tubes 52,54,extends between and interconnects with middle upright rails 32,34 andfront upright beams 36,38 at the upper ends thereof.

The frame 12 at its forward end includes left and rightforwardly-inclined support beams 56,58 which are respectively secured attheir rear ends to the lower ends of left and right front upright beams36,38 and at their front ends to the lower end of a front rack structure60 which is secured at its upper end to front cross tube 48.

A transverse tubular beam 62 also extends between and interconnects withthe front ends of left and right support beams 56,58. At an intermediatelocation along the transverse beam 62 is secured a forwardly-extendingtongue 64 for the machine 10 having a hitch element 66 at its forwardend which adapts the mobile frame 12 to be secured to a tractor, orother towing vehicle, located at the front thereof. While the preferredembodiment of the machine 10 described and illustrated herein is apull-type unit, it should be understood that the mobile frame 12 couldreadily be modified to form a self-propelled unit.

Also, the machine 10 is provided on its mobile frame 12 with cropmaterial delivery means, generally designated 66, which defines thebottom for two tandemly-arranged roll forming chambers, namely, a firstor front roll forming chamber, generally designated by numeral 68, and asecond or rear roll forming chamber, generally designated by numeral 70.The crop material delivery means moves crop material from the field intoone or both of the roll forming chambers 68,70. Further, a first orfront chamber opening-and-closing mechanism, generally designated 72, isprovided on the mobile frame 12 in operative association with the firstchamber 68, and a second or rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism,generally designated 74, is provided on the mobile frame 12 in operativeassociation with the second chamber 70. Still further, a twine wrappingmechanism, generally designated 75, is provided on the mobile frame 12being located generally above the delivery means 66 and between thechambers 68,70.

The components of the delivery means 66, chambers 68,70, theopening-and-closing mechanisms 72,74, and the wrapping mechanism 75 aswell as drive means and control components which synchronize theoperations performed with the machine 10, will be described in detailhereinafter. Following thereafter, the systematic operations performedby the machine 10 during its continuous, non-stop formation, wrappingand discharge of crop material rolls, commonly referred to as largeround bales, will be described in detail.

CROP MATERIAL DELIVERY MEANS

Referring still to FIGS. 1 and 2, but more particularly to FIG. 3, thecrop material delivery means 66 includes a crop material pickup unit 76mounted at the lower front end of the mobile frame 12 and crop materialconveying means extending between the ends of the mobile frame 12comprising a floor 78 fixedly mounted between longitudinal rails 14,16of mobile frame 12 and extending from adjacent the rear side of thepickup unit 76 to the rear end of the mobile frame 12, and a lowerconveyor or apron, generally designated 80, mounted to the mobile frame12 for movement along an endless path extending along the upper andlower surfaces of the floor 78 and about opposite ends of the floor 78.

The pickup unit 76 is a conventional type, including a horseshoe-shapeddrum 82 having a series of transversely spaced, circumferential slots 84(FIGS. 3 and 6) and a central transverse shaft 86 within the drum beingrotatably mounted to vertical side panels 88,90 connected to oppositeends of the drum 82. A series of cam-actuated bars 91 extendtransversely between and are rotatably mounted at their opposite ends incircular plates 92 disposed adjacent the ends of shaft 86. The bars 91mount spaced apart spring tines or fingers 93 which extend outwardlythrough the series of slots 84 and traverse about a endless clockwisepath, as viewed in FIG. 2, the lower portion of which is close to thefield, as the shaft 86, bars 91, and plates 92 are rotated which resultsin fingers 93 continuously picking up a swath or windrow of cropmaterial from the field and feeding it rearwardly over the top surfaceof the drum 82 and onto the front end of the floor 78 and lower apron 80as the machine 10 moves across the field. The drive arrangement for theshaft 86 of the pickup unit 76 will be described later on.

The lower apron 80 preferably comprises a series of endless, flexiblelink-type chains 94 (FIGS. 3 and 6) which are transversely spaced aparteven distances and respectively extend around driven sprocket gears 96which are mounted to a driven shaft 98 which is rotatably supportedadjacent the forward end of the floor 78 in bearings mountedrespectively in brackets 100 (only right bracket 100 being shown in FIG.2) fixed respectively to the undersides of support beams 56,58. Thedrive arrangement for the driven shaft 98 will be described later.

Also, the pickup unit 76 is pivotally supported at the rearward ends ofits side panels 88,90 upon the lower apron driven shaft 98 by bearingbrackets (not shown) which fit about the shaft 98 and are fastened tothe respective side panel rearward ends. The forward end of the pickupunit 76 is yieldably restrained against downward movement by a spring(not shown) secured at its upper end to the right support beam 56 and atits lower end to the right side panel 90. Also, a ground wheel 102 isrotatably mounted to right side panel 90 for supporting the pickup unit76 on the field.

At the rear end of the floor 78, cylindrical guide members 104 areformed on transverse tube 106 which extends between and is mounted toopposite side sheets 44,46 to provide rear guide means around whichchains 94 extend.

The floor 78 is supported by a series of channel beams 108 (FIG. 4)which are connected to and extend transversely between longitudinalrails 14,16. The upper courses of the chains 94 (being seen in FIG. 3)preferably slide within channels 110 which are fixed on the uppersurface of the floor 78 while the lower courses of the chains 94 extendalong the lower surface of the floor 78.

Each of the chains 94 comprising the lower apron 80 has aggressive typelugs 112 connected thereto at longitudinally-spaced positions therealongwhich project vertically-outwardly from the chain 94. The upper coursesof the chains 94 move from front to rear in the direction of the arrowsshown in FIG. 3 and the lugs aggressively engage the crop materialreceived from the pickup unit 76 for delivering it in a rearwarddirection and also aggressively engage the roll or rolls of cropmaterial being formed in the rear chamber 70 or in both the front andrear chambers 68,70, as will be described in detail later, in order tofaciliate rotary movement of the roll or rolls in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 1. Such engagement of the lugs 112 with theroll also tends to align the stems and fibers of the crop material insubstantially circumferential relationship about the roll to provide asubstantial tendency for the completed roll to shed moisture when lyingin the field.

The rear or discharge end of the floor 78 has terminal supporting meanscomprising a series of similar plates 114 (FIGS. 3 and 7) mounted attheir forward ends to the rearmost one of transverse beams 108 andyieldably urged upwardly to normally assume rearwardly-inclinedpositions, such as seen in FIG. 7, by left and right springs 116 (onlythe left spring being shown) being anchored at their upper ends tocorresponding left and right side sheets 44,46 by brackets 118 andconnected at their lower ends to a transverse rod 119 which supports theundersides of plates 114. The plates 114 are transversely spaced apartfrom each other so as to receive therebetween the chains 94 and the lugs112 which project therefrom. Thus, when the rear ends of the plates 114are in their normal elevated position, the chains 94 and lugs 112 willdisappear through the spaces between the plates as they approach thedischarge or rear end of the floor 78 which results in the lugspositively disengaging the roll being rotated counterclockwise, whilethe lower surface of the roll slideably rotates in a rearward directionwith respect to the floor 78.

When a roll has been formed to a desired size in the second chamber 70,the discharge of the roll over the rear end of the floor 78 depressesthe plates 114 and allows the lugs 112 of the chains 94 to again engagethe lower surface of the roll up to the point at which the chains passaround and below the rear transverse tube 106. When discharge has beencompleted, springs 116 immediately restore the plates to their normal,rearwardly-inclined position with their rear ends in an elevatedposition with respect to the end of the floor 78.

The pickup unit 76, floor 78 and lower apron 80, to the extent justdescribed heretofore, preferably are substantially the same as shown anddescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,909, except that the floor 78 and lowerapron 80 of the machine 10 have a greater length in the machine 10 inorder to accommodate their arrangement as the bottom of the unique frontand rear roll forming chambers 68,70 of the machine 10, such not beingknown heretofore. Other components and mechanisms not known heretoforewhich are operatively associated with the floor 78 be described indetail later on.

The front chamber 68 in which, at various periods during the continuousoperations performed by the machine 10, a core of a crop material rollis formed will be described next.

FRONT ROLL FORMING CHAMBER

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, the front chamber 68 includes a frontupper apron, generally designated 120, and means for movably mountingthe upper apron 120 to the mobile frame 12 at a location above generallythe forward half of the floor 78 and lower apron 80 which form thebottom of the front chamber 68. The mounting means includes atakeup-and-expansion mechanism, generally designated 122, for movablymounting a front portion of the front upper apron 120 to the mobileframe 12 and additional components for movably mounting rear and lowerportions of the front upper apron 120 to the mobile frame 12. Themechanism 122 controls contraction (takeup) and expansion of the frontupper apron 120 during roll core formation in the front chamber 68 andalso controls the size of the roll core in a manner which will bedescribed later.

The front upper apron 120, per se, preferably has a construction similarto that of the upper apron disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,084. Theapron 120 is composed of a pair of left and right endless, flexiblelink-type chains 124, 126, illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, locatedadjacent corresponding interior sides of the mobile frame 12, with aseries of rigid bars 128 extending transversely between and connected attheir opposite ends to the chains 124, 126 at longitudinally spacedintervals therealong. The bars 128 thereby extend across substantiallythe full width of the front chamber 68. In cross section, the bars 128are preferably cylindrical, but may be square or any other suitablegeometric shape, for purposes of offering resistance to bending of thebars, especially when engaging the periphery of a core of a roll of cropmaterial being formed within the front chamber 68, such as illustratedin FIGS. 21 and 22.

At similar locations adjacent to, and spaced downwardly from the upperends of, the left and right front upright beams 36, 38 of mobile frame12 is mounted the left and right portions of the takeup-and-expansionmechanism 122. The mechanism, per se, preferably has a constructionsimilar to that of the upper apron expanding mechanism disclosed inaforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,909. The mechanism 122 includes atransversely-extending cross tube 130 (see also FIG. 6 wherein the frontupper apron 120 is omitted for purpose of clarity), the outer ends ofwhich are rotatably supported by left and right braces 132, 134 fixedrespectively to, and extending forwardly from, the corresponding leftand right front upright beams 36, 38 at the aforesaid similar locationstherealong. Affixed to the tube 130 at locations spaced inwardly fromthe braces 132, 134 are respective left and right pairs of generallyopposite, radially-extending arms 136, 138 and 140, 142. At the outerends of upper left and right arms 136, 140 of the pairs thereof arerotatably mounted corresponding upper left and right idler guidesprockets 144, 146, while at the outer ends of lower left and right arms138, 142 are rotatably mounted corresponding lower left and right idlerguide sprockets 148, 150.

An upper course, generally designated 152, of the left and right chains124, 126 of front upper apron 120 extends over and about the upper sidesof upper guide sprockets 144, 146 and therefrom to and under and aboutthe lower sides of lower guide sprockets 148, 150.

The pairs of arms 136, 138 and 140, 142 are normally disposed in theposition seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 by tensioning means which includes leftand right tension springs 152, 154, cables 156, 158 and cam plates 160,162. The left and right springs 152, 154, more clearly seen in FIG. 6,are arranged to extend in generally longitudinal fashion adjacentlyalong and above corresponding left and right side tube 52, 54 of theupper rectangular frame structure of mobile frame 12. The respectiverear ends of the springs 152, 154 are anchored to side tubes 52, 54 ofthe upper rectangular frame structure by upright brackets 164, 166 fixedto respective rear ends of side tubes 52, 54. The respective front endsof the springs 152, 154 are connected to the respective ends of left andright cables 156, 158 and the cables respectively extend forwardlytherefrom to, and about and over, the upper sides of front left andright pulleys 168, 170 mounted adjacently above the outer sides of leftand right side tubes 52, 54 at similar locations spaced rearwardly fromthe forward ends thereof by upright channel brackets 172, 174. From therespective front pulleys 168, 170, the cables 156, 158 respectivelyextend downwardly to their opposite ends being respectively connected byleft and right pins 176, 178 to the lower portions of the outer sides ofcorresponding left and right cam plates 160, 162. The cam plates 160,162 are respectively fixed to cross tube 130 inwardly from its oppositeends and fixed to the outer sides of upper left and right arms 136, 140.

The upper course 152 of the left and right chains 124, 126 of frontupper apron 120 extends rearwardly and upwardly from corresponding lowerleft and right guide sprockets 148, 150 of the takeup-and-expansionmechanism 122 to, and over and about, the upper sides of correspondingleft and right upper rear idler guide sprockets 180, 182 and therefromdownwardly to, and under and about, the lower sides of correspondingleft and right lower rear idler guide sprockets 184, 186 of the frontchamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72 which will be describedhereinafter. From the rear guide sprockets 184, 186, the upper course152 of front upper apron 120 merges into the rear end of a lower course,generally designated 188, of the apron 120.

The upper rear sprockets 180, 182 are rotatably supported at the sidesof mobile frame 12 by corresponding left and right upwardly extendingbrackets 190, 192 which are fixed to left and right upper middle bracestructures 196, 198 which respectively interconnect corresponding leftand right middle upright rails 32, 34 and front upright beams 36, 38 ofthe mobile frame 12.

Furthermore, the upper course 152 of the left and right chains 124, 126of front upper apron 120 extends downwardly from corresponding upperguide sprockets 144, 146 of the takeup-and-expansion mechanism 122 to,and under and about, the lower sides of corresponding left and rightdriven sprockets 200, 202 and therefrom merges into the forward end ofthe lower course 188 of apron 120.

The driven sprockets 200, 202 for driving the front upper apron 120 arerespectively fixedly mounted adjacent the opposite ends of a driventransverse shaft 204 being rotatably mounted by suitable left and rightbearing structures (only right structure 206 being seen in FIG. 2) fixedon the upper sides of corresponding left and right forwardly-inclinedbraces 210, 212 which respectively interconnect between correspondingleft and right front upright beams 36, 38 and front braces 214, 216. Thebraces 214, 216 are fixed at their respective lower ends to the outerends of transverse tubular beam 62 of mobile frame 12 and respectivelyhave rearwardly-extending upper portions 218, 220 which connect to thecorresponding left and right front upright beams 36, 38. Also, frontleft and right side panels 222, 224 are respectively secured about theirperipheries to corresponding left and right front upright beam 36, 38,forwardly-inclined support beams 56, 58, forwardly-inclined braces 210,212 and front braces 214, 216 so as to close the side openingsrespectively formed by these latter interconnected structures. The sidepanels 222, 224, the front ends of the floor 78 and upper course of thelower apron 80, and the front end of the lower course 188 of the frontupper apron 120 thereby define the inlet opening chamber 68 throughwhich crop material is delivered rearwardly from the pickup 76.

The driven transverse shaft 205 also mounts a pair of spaced annularguide hubs 226, 228 (FIG. 6) at space apart intermediate locationsbetween the ends of shaft 204. The transverse bars 128 of the frontupper apron 120 located at the area of merger between the upper course152 and the forward end of the lower course 188 engage and are supportedby the forward sides of the hubs 226, 228.

The drive arrangement for the driven shaft 204 which causes the frontupper apron 120 to move in a generally clockwise direction, as seen inFIG. 1, will be described hereinafter.

Sidewalls for the front roll forming chamber 68 and for the middleportion of the machine 10 located between the chambers 68, 70 areprovided by left and right side sheets 230, 232 of the mobile frame 12which extend between and are respectively secured about their front,rear and lower peripheries to corresponding left and right longitudinalrails 14, 16, lower portions of middle upright rails 32, 34 and lowerportions of front upright beams 36, 38. Respective portions of the sidesheets 230, 232 adjacent the lower course 188 of the front upper apron120 have a similar large semi-circular configuration and reach to aheight somewhat greater than the diameter of the partial roll, or core,of crop material which is to be formed in the front chamber 68.

At similar locations in respective central areas of the semi-circularportions of the side sheets 230, 232 of the mobile frame 12 are definedappropriately-shaped openings 234, 236 with which are operablyassociated left and right auxiliary guide members 238, 240. Theauxiliary guide members 238, 240, per se, preferably have a constructionsimilar to that of the auxiliary guide members disclosed in aforesaidU.S. Pat. No. 3,589,909. The member 238, 240 are pivotally mounted attheir lower ends to respective side sheets 230, 232 adjacent the lowerends of respective openings 234, 236 and both have rounded, arcuateupper surfaces 242, 244 which are respectively slideably engaged bychains 124, 126 of the lower course 188 of front upper apron 120 duringthe initial stages of roll formation in front chamber 68 (see FIG. 20).Normally, the guide members 238, 240 are disposed in an inner orextended position in which they extend inwardly through openings 234,236 in the side sheets 230, 232 and into the front forming chamber 68.In such position of the members, their upper surfaces 242, 244 arespaced inwardly from the side sheets 230, 232 and in vertical alignmentwith the lower course 188 of chains 124, 126 of front upper apron 120.

The guide members 238, 240 are maintained in such inner positions byrespective yieldable biasing means 246, 248, each of which includes acompression spring interconnecting and extending between the member anda bracket fixed to and projecting outwardly from a respective side sheetadjacent the lower end of the member.

The auxiliary guide members 238, 240 are forced from their inner orextended positions outwardly back through openings 234, 236 to outer orretracted positions upon engagement of interior, facing surfaces of themembrs by the opposite ends of the crop material roll being formed inthe front chamber 68. The members 238, 240 also will be maintained insuch retracted positions as long as the roll remains in the frontchamber 68 of the machine 10. However, after discharge of the rollrearwardly to the rear chamber 70, the springs of the biasing means 246,248 restore the members 238, 240 to their inner positions where thelower course 188 of the chains 124, 126 of the front upper apron willagain be able to slideably engage the members and form the upperboundary of a generally wedged-shaped space or cavity being defined bythe upper course 188 in conjunction with side sheets 230, 232, the uppercourse of lower apron 80 and the floor 72 which provides the initialconfiguration and volume of the front chamber 68 when roll formingoperations are initiated therein.

The front upper apron 120, in addition to being driven along a generallyclockwise, endless path as viewed in FIG. 1 and as will be explainedhereinafter, is movable between contracted and expanded conditions. Asshown in FIGS. 1 and 2, biasing of the takeup-and-expansion mechanism122 provided by its spring 152, 154 tends to move and hold the frontupper apron 120 in a contracted condition wherein its lower course 188engages the auxiliary guide members 238, 240. As a roll being formedwithin the front chamber 68 increases in diameter, thetakeup-and-expansion mechanism 122 will yieldably rotate in acounterclockwise direction and allow the front upper apron toprogressively expand against the biasing, as seen in FIGS. 20 through23, or move toward an expanded condition with the front chamber 68progressively increasing in volume. In such manner, the increasing sizeof the roll is accommodated while the lower course of the front upperapron 120 is maintained in pressurized contact with a substantialcircumferential portion of the crop material roll as it grows in size.

Therefore, the front roll forming chamber 68 is allowed to progressivelyincrease in volume during the forming of a crop material roll therein.The roll forming region of chamber 68 is defined by and betweenapproximately the front half of the crop material conveying means (i.e.,of the floor 78 and upper course of the lower apron 80), the left andright side sheets 230, 232 and the lower course 188 of the front upperapron 120. The front chamber 68 is, in effect, closed during performanceof roll forming operations therein, except for a crop material frontinlet opening thereto formed between the front end of the lower courseof the front upper apron 120 and the upper course of the lower apron 80.Once a roll core of a predetermined desired size has been formed, thefront roll forming chamber 68 is opened at its rear end for dischargingthe roll core through its rear end to the rear roll forming chamber 70.

FRONT CHAMBER OPENING-AND-CLOSING MECHANISM

The front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72 is operable to openand close the rear end of the front roll forming chamber 68. Themechanism 72 includes interconnected components, generally designated250, 252, which are respectively simultaneously operable for raising andlowering a rear portion of the front upper apron 120 and for loweringand raising a portion of the floor 78 located adjacent the rear end ofthe front chamber 68. The mechanism 72 further includes power meanspreferably in the form of left hydraulic cylinder 254 for simultaneouslyactuating the interconnected components 250, 252.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the front upper apron raising and loweringcomponent 250 includes left and right swingable arms 256, 258 which arerespectively pivotally mounted at their lower ends by pivot elements260, 262 to the rear ends of corresponding left and right short beams264, 266 respectively horizontally secured at their inner sides to leftand right side sheets 230, 232 and at their forward ends to the rearsides of left and right front upright beams 36, 38 of mobile frame 12.Since the pivot elements 260, 262 are generally located co-axially withthe common axis of the radii of the respective semi-circular portions ofside sheets 230, 232 and the arms 256, 258, which extend along the outersurfaces of the semi-circular side sheet portions, have generallysimilar lengths slightly greater than the radii of the semi-circularside sheet portions, the respective outer ends of arms 256, 258 protrudeslightly beyond the respective peripheral edges of the semi-circularside sheet portions. The outer ends of the arms 256, 258 areinterconnected by a cross tube 268 which extends transversely across themachine 10 with its respective opposite ends extending above andoutwardly past the respective peripheral edges of the semi-circular sidesheet portions and being respective fixedly mounted on the outer ends ofarms 256, 258. Spaced inwardly from the respective outer ends of crosstube 268 and being located inwardly from the side sheets 230, 232 areleft and right brackets 270, 272 secured to the cross tube 268 andextending rearwardly therefrom when the component 250 is in the upperposition illustrated in FIG. 1. Left and right lower rear guidesprockets 184, 186, briefly mentioned hereinbefore, are respectivelyrotatably secured to the outer ends of corresponding left and rightbrackets 270, 272 along the respective outer sides thereof and invertical alignment with chains 124, 126 of the front upper apron 120.Also, a pair of lower spaced apart idler guide hubs 274,276 (FIG. 6) arerotatably supported by respective brackets 278, 280 which also arerespectively attached to and extend rearwardly from the cross tube 268at spaced apart intermediate locations between the ends of the tube 268.The rear sides of the hubs 274, 276 engage and support the transversebars 128 of front upper apron 120 located at the area of merger betweenthe upper course 152 and rear end of the lower course 188 of apron 120.

The floor portion lowering and raising component 252, as seen in FIGS. 1and 2 and in greater detail in FIGS. 3, and 4, includes a series ofside-by-side rectangular spaced apart ramps 282 disposed across thefloor 78, each one aligned laterally with the next one in the seriesthereof and positioned between adjacent floor channels 110 within whichthe lower apron chains 94 are disposed. The ramps 282 are respectivelymounted in a corresponding series of side-by-side spaced apartrectangular openings 284 defined in the floor 78 between adjacent floorchannels 110. Two of the transverse floor supporting channel beams 108underlie the floor 78 adjacent respective forward and rear ends of theopenings 284. Each of the ramps 282 is comprised by a top planar portion286 and left and right spaced apart vertical side portions 288, 290which respectively depend downwardly from oppositelongitudinally-extending edges of the top planar portion 286. Pairs ofspaced apart, rearwardly-extending tabs 292 fixed to the rear side offront channel beam 108 and the forward ends of ramp side portions 288,290 have aligned holes formed therein through which a transverse rod 294extends which pivotally mounts the ramps 282 at their forward ends tothe tabs 292. The transverse rod 294 at its respective opposite endsextends through and is secured to side sheets 230, 232. Also, each ofthe ramps 282 at its rear end includes a rearwardly and downwardlyextending tail 296, the lower tip of which remains extending through therear end of the respective opening 284 when the ramp 282 is in itsraised position as seen in FIG. 4 in order to prevent crop materialresidue from inadvertently entering into the opening 284 and becominglodged under the ramp 282 which would impede lowering of the ramp 282.The component 252 also includes a transverse rockshaft 298 which extendsbetween the sides of mobile frame 12 and underlies the rear ends offloor ramps 282. The rockshaft 298 at its respective outer ends extendsthrough and is mounted by left and right bearings 300, 302 tocorresponding left and right side sheets 230, 232. A series ofside-by-side spaced apart lifting fingers 304 are connected at theirinner ends to the rockshaft 298 and are vertically aligned withrespective contacts pads 306 fixed to the undersides of respective onesof the floor ramps 282 near the rearward ends thereof. The fingers 304normally extend radially forwardly from the rockshaft 298 andrespectively have downwardly-extending acruate-shaped outer ends 308which engage and lift the corresponding pads 306 to causecounterclockwise pivoting of the ramps 282 respectively when therockshaft 298 is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 4.

Left and right means, generally designated 310, 312, are illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2 which interconnect the components 250, 252 such that arms256, 258 are lowered simultaneously when floor ramps 282 are raised forclosing the rear end of front chamber 68 as seen in FIGS. 20 through 23and such that arms 256, 258 are raised simultaneously when ramps 282 arelowered for opening the rear of front chamber 68 as also seen in FIGS.17 through 19 and 24. The left means 310 includes an arcuate member 314fixed to the left outer end of the rockshaft 298 so as to be rotatabletherewith. The rear upper end of member 314 is pivotally connected tothe lower rear end of a left turnbuckle device 316 which, in turn, ispivotally connected at its upper forward end to the rear side of theleft arm 256. The right means 312 includes a short arm 318 fixed at itslower front end to the right outer end of the rockshaft 298 so as to berotatable therewith. The upper rear end of short arm 318 is pivotallyconnected to the lower rear end of a right turnbuckle device 320 which,in turn, is pivotally connected at its upper forward end to the rear ofthe right arm 258.

For simultaneously moving the interconnected components 250, 252, lefthydraulic cylinder 254 is pivotally connected at its piston rod end tothe front upper end of arcuate member 314 and is pivotally anchored atits cylinder end to the rear end of a brace 322 which is fixed to andextends along the outer surfaces of right upright beam 38 and right sidepanel 224. Extension of cylinder 254 causes arcuate member 314, andthereby rockshaft 298 and short arm 318, to rotate in a clockwisedirection as viewed in FIG. 1, which results in fingers 304 engaging andlifting pads 306 and thereby pivoting ramps 282 upwardly and at the sametime, through left and right turnbuckle devices 316, 320, pullingpivotal arms 256, 258 downwardly until the rear ends of ramps 282 aredisposed closely adjacent the rear end of the lower course 188 of thefront upper apron 120 which, in effect, closes the rear end of frontchambers 68. Retraction of cylinder 254 causes the arcuate member 314,rockshaft 298 and short arm 318 to rotate in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 1, back to their respective positions asseen in FIGS. 1 and 2 which results in the ramps 282 lowering back totheir horizontal positions within the plane of the floor 78 due togravity and the arms 256, 258 being pivoted upwardly to their positionsof FIGS. 1 and 2, which remotely spaces the rear end of the lower course188 of the front upper apron 120 from the rear ends of the ramps 282and, in effect, opens the rear end of the front chamber 68. By adjustingthe turnbuckle devices 316, 320, the displacements of arms 256, 258 andthus the rear end of the front upper apron 120 at both the raised andlowered positions thereof relative to the floor ramps 282 may beadjusted.

Means for actuating the cylinder 254 will be described later on inconnection with the detailed description of the hydraulic and mechanicalcontrol components which synchronize the operations performed with themachine 10.

REAR ROLL FORMING CHAMBER

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, the rear chamber 70 includes an upperframe, generally designated 324, pivotally connected to and supported onthe rear portion of the mobile frame 12, a rear upper apron, generallydesignated 326, and means for movably mounting the floor 78 and upperapron 122 to both the mobile frame 12 and the rear upper frame 120 at alocation above generally the rear half of the floor 78 and lower apron80 which form the bottom of the rear chamber 70. The mounting meansincludes a front take-up-and-expansion mechanism, generally designated328, for movably mounting the forward portion of the rear upper apron326 to the mobile frame 12, a rear takeup-and-expansion mechanism,generally designated 330, for movably mounting a middle upper portion ofthe rear upper apron 326 to the upper frame 324 and additionalcomponents for movably mounting lower front, middle and rear portions ofthe rear upper apron 326 to the mobile frame 12. Thetakeup-and-expansion mechanisms 328, 330 control contraction (takeup)and expansion of the rear upper apron 326 during roll formation in therear chamber 70.

The upper frame 324, per se, preferably has a construction similar tothat of the upper frame disclosed in aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,909,consisting of left and right side portions 332, 334 respectivelycomposed of left and right straight members 336, 338, the opposite endsof which are respectively connected to the opposite ends ofcorresponding arcuate members 340, 342. Left and right side panels 344,346 are respectively secured about their peripheries to correspondingleft and right straight members 336, 338 and arcuate members 340, 342 soas to close the side openings respectively formed by these members. Theside portions 332, 334 of the upper frame 324 are also transverselyinterconnected by two spaced apart cross channels 348, 350 which connectat their respective opposite ends with the arcuate members 340, 342.Further, left and right reinforcing beams 352, 354 are attached torespective side panels 344, 346 and interconnect respective straightmembers 336, 338 and arcuate members 340, 342 at approximate middlelocations therealong.

The uppermost end of the respective side portions 332, 334 of upperframe 324 are pivotally connected by respective pivot elements 356, 358to suitable bearing bracket structures 360, 362 mounted to respectiveupper ends of left and right forwardly-inclined side beams 40, 42 of themobile frame 12. The upper frame 324 is thereby mounted to the mobileframe 12 for pivotal movement between a lower, closed position, as seenin FIGS. 1, 2 and 7 wherein left and right straight members 336, 338 ofupper frame 324 rest upon corresponding left and right side beams 40, 42of mobile frame 12, and an upper, open position, as seen in FIGS. 7 and21. The upper frame 324 comprises part of the rear chamber opening andclosing mechanism 74 which will be described later on.

Except for its greater length in the machine 10, the rear upper apron326, per se, like front upper apron 120, preferably has a constructionsimilar to that of the upper apron disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,084.The apron 326 is composed of a pair of left and right endless, flexiblelink-type chains 364, 366, illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, locatedadjacent corresponding interior sides of the mobile and upper frame 12,324, with a series of rigid bars 367 extending transversely between andconnected at their opposite ends to the chains 364, 366 atlongitudinally spaced intervals therealong. The bars 367 thereby extendacross substantially the full width of the rear chamber 70. In crosssection, the bars 367 are preferably cylindrical, but may be square orany other suitable geometric shape, for purposes of offering resistanceto bending of the bars, especially when engaging the periphery of a rollof crop material being formed within the rear chamber 70, such asillustrated in FIGS. 18 through 20.

The rear upper apron 326 is movably supported on the mobile and upperframes 12, 324 by the above-mentioned takeup-and-expansion mechanisms328, 330 and other additional mounting components briefly referred toabove.

Positioned adjacent the respective side portions 332, 334 of upper frame324 are left and right arcuate guide bars (not shown) which are securedto and spaced inwardly from corresponding left and right arcuate members340, 342 by suitable brackets (not shown), such bars and brackets beingsubstantially of the same construction as that disclosed in aforesaidU.S. Pat. No. 3,859,909. The arcuate guide bars conform generally to theprofile of the arcuate members 340, 342 of upper frame 324 and the uppercourse, generally designated 368, of the chains 364, 366 of the upperapron 326 slideably engage and move along the respective outer edges ofthe arcuate guide bars as the apron 326 is moved in an overall clockwisedirection, as seen in FIG. 1.

At the lower ends of the left and right side portions 332, 334 of upperframe 324 are respectively mounted left and right lower idler guidesprockets 370, 372 being respectively rotatably supported by bracketplates 374, 376 which are respectively attached to and depend forwardlyand downwardly from a cross tube (not shown) extending transverselybetween and connected at its opposite ends to the lower ends ofcorresponding left and right straight members 336, 338 of upper frame324. A pair of lower spaced apart idler guide hubs (not shown) arerotatably supported by respective clevises (not shown) which also arerespectively attached to and depend forwardly and downwardly from thecross tube at spaced apart intermediate locations between the ends ofthe tube. The upper course 368 of the chains 365, 366 of the rear upperapron 326 extends about the lower sides of the lower guide sprockets370, 372 and therefrom merges into the rear end of the lower course ofthe apron 326, such being indicated generally by 380, while thetransverse bars 367 located at the area of merger between the course368, 380 engage the lower sides of the hubs.

Adjacent the upper ends of the left and right side portions 332, 334 ofthe upper frame 324 are mounted the corresponding left and rightportions of the rear takeup-and-expansion mechanism 330 as well as leftand right upper idler guide sprockets 382, 384, the latter beingrespectively rotatably supported on the interior sides of left and rightbracket channels 386, 388 which are respectively connected to the upperends of corresponding left and right arcuate members 340, 342 of upperframe 324 and extend upwardly therefrom.

The rear takeup-and-expansion mechanism 330 includes atransversely-arranged tubular shaft (not shown), the outer ends of whichextend respectively through and are rotatably supported by left andright bracket plates 392, 394 positioned rearwardly of correspondingleft and right bracket channels 386, 388 and connected thereto as wellas to the upper ends of corresponding left and right arcuate members340, 342 of upper frame 324. The rear takeup-and-expansion mechanism 330further includes left and right arms 396, 398 respectively attached tocorresponding left and right outer ends of transverse tubular shaft andextending in similar fashion radially therefrom normally in an upwardlyand rearwardly inclined position. Left and right outer idler guidesprockets 400, 402 are rotatably mounted to the respective upperinwardly-projecting ends of corresponding left and right arms 396, 398.The rear takeup-and-expansion mechanism 330 still further includes meansfor biasing the arms 396, 398 to their normal inclined position, as seenin FIGS. 1 and 2, which includes left and right elongated tensionsprings 404, 406 respectively located outwardly along side portions 332,334 of the upper frame 324 and left and right triangular-shaped channels408, 410 respective secured to and depending from corresponding left andright arms 396, 398. The left and right tension springs 404, 406 arepivotally anchored at their rearward ends to respective left and rightangle brackets 412, 414 fixed to, and extending outwardly from,corresponding left and right arcuate members 340, 324 of upper frame324. The forward ends of the left and right springs 404, 406 arepivotally attached to the respective lower ends of corresponding leftand right triangular-shaped channels 408, 410.

The upper course 368 of the chains 364, 366 of the rear upper apron 326further extends about the upper sides of the upper idler guide sprockets382, 384 as well as the outer idler guide sprockets 400, 402 of the reartakeup-and-expansion mechanism 330.

At similar locations adjacent to, and spaced downwardly from the upperends of the left and right middle upright rails 32, 34 of mobile frame12 is mounted the left and right portions of the fronttakeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 of the rear chamber 70. The lattermechanism, per se, like the takeup-and-expansion mechanism 122 of thefront chamber 68, preferably has a construction similar to that of theupper apron expanding mechanism disclosed in aforesaid U.S. Pat. No.3,859,909. The front takeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 of the rearchamber 70 includes a transversely-extending cross shaft 416 (see alsoFIG. 6 wherein the rear upper apron 326 has also been omitted for thesake of clarity), the outer ends of which are rotatably supported byleft and right channel brackets 418, 420 fixed respectively to, andextending forwardly from, the corresponding left and right middleupright rails 32, 34 of mobile frame 12 at the aforesaid similarlocations therealong. Affixed to the shaft 328 at locations spacedinwardly from the brackets 418, 420 are respective left and right pairsof generally opposite, radially-extending arms 422, 424, and 426, 428.At the outer ends of forward left and right arms 422, 428 of the pairsthereof are rotatably mounted corresponding front left and right idlerguide sprockets 430, 432, while at the outer ends of rearward left andright arms 424, 428 are rotatably mounted corresponding rear left andright idler guide sprockets 434, 436.

The upper course 368 of the left and right chains 364, 366 of the rearupper apron 326 extends generally downwardly from the previouslydescribed corresponding left and right upper idler guide sprockets 382,384 to under and about the lower sides of the corresponding left andright rear guide sprockets 434, 436 of mechanism 328 and therefromupwardly to, and over and about, the upper sides of the correspondingleft and right front guide sprockets 430, 432 of mechanism 328.

The pairs of arms 422, 424 and 426, 428 are normally disposed in theposition seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 by tensioning means which includes leftand right tension springs 438, 440, cables 442, 444 and cam plates 446,448. The left and right springs 438, 440, more clearly depicted in FIG.6, are arranged to extend in generally longitudinal fashion adjacentlyalong the respective inner sides of corresponding left and right sidetubes 52, 54 of the upper rectangular frame structure of mobile frame12. The respective forward ends of the springs 438, 440 are anchored tothe front cross tube 48 of the upper rectangular frame structure byupright brackets 450, 452 fixed to the cross tube 48 adjacent andinwardly of its opposite ends. The respective rearward ends of thesprings 438, 440 are connected to the respective ends of left and rightcables 442, 444 and the cables respectively extend rearwardly therefromand about the rear sides of left and right pairs of inner and outerpulleys 454,456, and 458,460 mounted below corresponding left and rightcorner plates 462,464 which bridge the intersection of side tubes 52,54and middle cross tube 48 of the upper rectangular frame structure. Fromthe respective outer pulley 456,460 of the left and right pairs ofpulleys, the cables 442,444 respectively extend forwardly and about theupper sides of left and right pulleys 466,468 rotatably mounted adjacentand below the rear ends of corresponding left and right side tubes 52,54of the upper rectangular frame structure. From pulleys 466,468, finallythe cables 442,444 respectively extend downwardly to their opposite endsbeing respectively connected by left and right pins 470,472 to the lowerportions of the outer sides of corresponding left and right cam plates446,448. The cam plates 446,448 are respectively fixed to cross shaft416 inwardly from its opposite ends and fixed to the outer sides offorward left and right arms 422,426.

Furthermore, the upper course 368 of the left and right chains 364,366of the rear upper apron 326 extends downwardly from corresponding leftand right front guide sprockets 430,432 of the fronttakeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 to, and over and about, the lowersides of corresponding left and right driven sprockets 474,476 andtherefrom merges into the front end of the lower course 380 of the rearupper apron 326.

The driven sprockets 474,476 for driving the rear upper apron 326 arerespectively fixedly mounted adjacent the opposite ends of a drivencross shaft 478 being rotatably mounted to left and right mountingstructures 480,482 affixed to and projecting upwardly from therespective forward ends of corresponding left and right pivotal arms484,486. The arms 484,486 normally extend from their forward ends in arearwardly-inclined direction to rear ends being pivotally mountedrespectively at 488,490 to corresponding left and rightforwardly-inclined side beams 40,42 of the mobile frame.

Means to be described later on in conjunction with the description ofthe rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 74 normally maintains thearms 484,486 in their rearward-inclined direction which disposes thedriven sprockets 474,476 and shaft 478 in the lowered position, as seenin FIGS. 1 and 2.

The driven shaft 478 also mounts a pair of spaced apart annular guidehubs 492,494 (FIG. 6) at spaced apart intermediate locations between theends of the shaft 478. The transverse bars 367 of the rear upper apron326 located at the area of merger between the upper course 368 and theforward end of the lower course 380 engage the forward sides of the hubs492,494.

The drive arrangement on the machine 10 for the driven shaft 478 whichcauses the rear upper apron 326 to move in a generally clockwise sense,as seen in FIG. 1, will be described later on.

At similar locations in respective lower, central areas of the left andright sheets 44,46 of the mobile frame 12 are definedappropriately-shaped openings 496,498 with which are operably associatedleft and right auxiliary guide members 500,502. Like members 238,240 ofthe front chamber 68, the auxiliary guide members 500,502 per se,preferably have a construction similar to that of the auxiliary guidemembers disclosed in aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,909. The members500,502 are pivotally mounted at their lower ends to respective sidesheets 44,46 adjacent the lower ends of respective openings 496,498 andboth have rounded, arcuate upper surfaces 504,506 which are respectivelyslideably engaged by chains 364,366 of the lower course 380 of upperrear apron 326 during the initial stages of roll formation in rearchamber 70. Normally, the guide members 500,502 are disposed in an inneror extended position in which they extend inwardly through openings496,498 in the side sheets 44,46 and into rear forming chamber 70. Insuch position of the members, their upper surfaces 504,506 are spacedinwardly from the side sheets 44,46 and in vertical alignment with thelower course 380 of chains 364,366 of rear upper apron 326.

The guide members 500,502 are maintained in such inner positions byrespective yieldable biasing means 508,510, each of which includes acompression spring interconnecting and extending between the member anda bracket fixed to and projecting outwardly from a respective side sheetadjacent the lower end of the member.

The auxiliary guide members 500,502 are forced from their inner orextended positions outwardly back through openings 496,498 to outer orretracted positions upon engagement of interior, facing surfaces of themembers by the opposite ends of the crop material roll being formed inthe rear chamber 70. The members 500,502 also will be maintained in suchretracted positions as long as the roll remains in the rear chamber 70of the machine 10. However, after discharge of the roll from the machine10, the springs of the yieldable biasing means 508,510 restore themembers 500,502 to their inner positions where the lower course 380 ofthe chains 364,366 of the rear upper apron 326 will again slideablyengage the members and form the upper boundary of a generallywedge-shaped space as defined in conjunction with side sheets 44,46, theupper courses of the lower apron 80 and the floor 78 which provides theinitial configuration and volume of the rear roll forming chamber 70.

The rear upper apron 326, in addition to being driven along a generallyclockwise, endless path as viewed in FIG. 1 and as will be explainedlater on, is movable between contracted and expanded conditions. Asshown in FIGS. 1 and 2, biasing of the takeup-and-expansion members 328and 330 provided by their respective springs 438,440 and 404,406 tendsto move and hold the rear upper apron 326 in a contracted conditionwherein its lower course 380 engages the auxiliary guide members500,502. As a roll being formed within the rear chamber 70 increases indiameter, the members 328,330 will yieldably rotate respectively incounterclockwise and clockwise direction and allow the rear upper apron326 to progressively expand against the biasing, as seen in FIGS. 18through 20, or move toward an expanded condition with the rear chamber70 progressively increasing in volume. In such manner, the increasingsize of the roll is accommodated while the lower course of the rearupper apron 326 is maintained in pressurized contact with a substantialcircumferential portion of the crop material roll as it grows in size.

Therefore, the rear roll forming chamber 70 is allowed to progressivelyincrease in volume during the forming of a crop material roll therein.The roll forming region of chamber 70 is defined by and betweenapproximately the rear half of the crop material conveying means (i.e.,of the floor 78 and upper course of the lower apron 80), the left andright side sheets 44,46 and the lower course of the rear upper apron326. The rear chamber 70 is, in effect, closed during performance ofroll forming operations therein, except for a crop material front inletopening thereto formed between the front end of the lower course of therear upper apron 326 and the upper course of the lower apron 80. Once aroll has been completely formed and then wrapped with suitable bindingmaterial, such as twine, by mechanism 75 to be described later on, therear roll forming chamber 70 is opened at both its forward and rear endsfor discharging the finished roll through its rear end and thenreceiving a partially formed roll, or core, of crop material through itsfront end from the front chamber 68.

REAR CHAMBER OPENING-AND-CLOSING MECHANISM

The rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 74, as seen in FIGS. 1, 2and 7, is operable to open and close the rear end of the rear rollforming chamber 70 as well as to increase and decrease the height of thepreviously-described crop material inlet opening at the front end of therear chamber 70. The mechanism 74 includes cooperating components,generally designated 512,514, which are respectively operable forraising and lowering rear and front portions of the rear upper apron 326in a desired predetermined sequence. The mechanism 74 further includespower means preferably in the form of left and right hydraulic cylinders516,518 for actuating the components 512,514.

The component 512 for raising and lowering the rear portion of the rearupper apron 326 includes the previously-described pivotal upper frame324 and various means for movably mounting that portion of the apron 326to the upper frame 324, such as the rear takeup-and-expansion mechanism330 and lower guide sprockets 370,372 and hubs (not shown) mounted tocross tube 378.

The component 514 for raising and lowering the front portion of the rearupper apron 326 includes aforementioned pivotal arms 484,486, drivencross shaft 478 mounted between arms 484, 486 and driven sprockets474,476 and hubs 492,494 which are mounted to the cross shaft 478.

Also, component 514 includes left and right pairs of telescoping tubesand rods 520,522 and 524,526 and left and right tension springs 528,530.These latter parts operatively interconnect the arms 484,486 with theupper frame 324 and cylinders 516,518 so as to provide for pivotalmovement of the arms 484,486 in a desired predetermined sequencerelative to pivotal movement of the upper frame 324. The purpose forestablishing such predetermined sequence in the pivotal movement of thearms 484,486 relative to the pivotal movement of the upper frame 324will become clear hereinafter when the control components and theoverall continuous roll forming, wrapping and discharging operations ofthe machine 10 are described in detail.

The left and right hydraulic cylinders 516,518 are respectively anchoredat their cylinder ends at 532,534 about fixed pivot points on the sidesof mobile frame 12 by corresponding left lower middle brace structure536 which interconnects left middle upright rail 32 and front uprightbeam 36, and corresponding right lower middle brace structure 538 whichinterconnects right middle upright rail 34, right front upright beam 38and right longitudinally extending rail 16. The left and right cylinders516,518 are respectively pivotally connected by clevises 540,542 mountedon their piston rod ends to the side portions 332,334 of upper frame324. The left and right clevises 540,542 respectively receivetherethrough corresponding left and right pivot elements 544,546 whichare respectively fixed to and extend outwardly from corresponding leftand right straight members 336,338 at intermediate locations therealongadjacent the forward ends of corresponding left and right reinforcingbeams 352,354.

Left and right rods 522,526 have respective clevises 548,540 fixed ontheir forward ends which are pivotally connected to corresponding leftand right brackets 552,554 fixed to respective pivotal arms 484,486 atmiddle locations therealong. Left and right tubes 520,524 are slideablyreceived on the corresponding left and right rods 522, 526 and arerespectively pivotally mounted at their rear ends to corresponding leftand right pivot elements 544,546 by respective brackets 556,558. Thebrackets 556,558, fixed on the rear ends of the respective tubes520,524, extend within respective clevises 540,542 on cylinders 516,518and pivotally receive therethrough respective pivotal elements 544,546.Left and right tension springs 528,530 are pivotally connected at theirlower ends to respective brackets 560,562 fixed to respective pivotalarms 484,486 adjacent and rearwardly of the location of brackets548,550. The upper ends of left and right springs 528,530 arerespectively interconnected to corresponding left and rightforwardly-inclined side beams 40,42 of mobile frame 12 by left and rightadjustable fastening members 564,566.

The springs 528,530 bias the pivotal arms 484,486 toward a raisedposition, as shown in broken line in FIG. 7, wherein the arms 484,486will abut against stops 568,570 fixed to and protruding outwardly fromleft and right middle upright rails 32,34 of the mobile frame 12. Insuch raised position, the arms 484,486, via driven cross shaft 478 anddriven sprockets 474,476, dispose the front end of the rear upper apron326 at a predetermined maximum height above the floor 78 and lower apron80 which is sufficient to allow rearward movement of the core of apartially formed crop material roll (having a diameter somewhat lessthan the aforementioned height of the rear upper apron front end) fromthe front chamber 68 through the inlet opening of the rear chamber 70.

However, when the upper frame 324 is disposed in its lowered position,as shown in solid line form in FIG. 7, due to the retracted condition ofhydraulic cylinders 516,518, the pivotal arms 484,486 are maintained ata lowered position, as seen in solid line form in FIG. 7, due toabutment of the forward ends of telescoping tubes 520,524 againstrespective clevises 548,550 fixed on the forward ends of respective rods522,526. When the arms 484,486 are maintained in their lowered position,the springs 528,530 are disposed in an extended or expanded state andthe crop material inlet opening to the rear chamber 70 only has a heightsufficient to receive a layer of crop material being conveyed rearwardlyby lower apron 80, as seen in FIGS. 18 and 19.

Upon extension of hydraulic cylinders 516,518 in raising the upper frame324, the tubes 520,524 also move rearwardly and upwardly with the pistonrod ends of the cylinders 516,518 and thereby allow contraction of thesprings 520,530 which results in upward pivoting of arms 484,486 towardtheir raised position. The arms 484,486 reach their raised position,wherein they abut stops 568,570, when the upper frame 324 has reachedits partially raised position, as shown in broken line form in FIG. 7and designated by numeral 572. Continued extension of cylinders 516,518pivotally raises the upper frame 324 to its upper position, as shown inbroken line form in FIG. 7 and designated by numeral 574, with thetelescoping tubes 520,524 having slid rearwardly along the respectiverods 522,526 to a remote position out of abutment therewith, as seen inbroken line form in FIG. 7.

Thus, it will be readily understood that upon extension of cylinders516,518 the front end of rear upper apron 326 will reach its raisedposition before the rear end thereof reaches it raised position, whileupon retraction of cylinders 516,518 the front and rear ends of rearupper apron 326 will reach their lowered positions simultaneously. Inother words, the height dimension of the inlet opening at the front endof rear chamber 70 will increase to a predetermined maximum prior towhen the rear end of chamber 70 is fully opened, while it will notdecrease to a predetermined minimum until the rear end of the rearchamber 70 is fully closed. When the rear end of chamber 70 is onlypartially closed to position 572 of the upper frame 324, shown in FIG.7, the height dimension of the rear chamber inlet opening is still at amaximum.

Means for actuating the hydraulic cylinders 516,518 will be describedlater on in connection with a detailed description of the hydraulic andmechanical control components which synchronize the operations performedwith the machine 10.

DRIVE MEANS

The motive power for the machine 10 is derived from a power takeoffshaft of the towing tractor. As seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, machine 10includes telescopic universal shaft 576 adapted for connection at itsfoward end to the pto shaft of the tractor and connected at its rear endto the input drive shaft 578 of a gearbox 580 mounted on a plate 582fixed to and extending rearwardly from the transverse tubular beam 62 ofmobile frame 12 at a middle location therealong. An output drive shaft584 extends outwardly from the left side of the gearbox 580 to the leftside of mobile frame 12 past left front brace 214. A bearing bracket 586secured on and extending upwardly from brace 214 rotatably mounts theshaft 584 adjacent its outer end above the upper side of brace 214.

The rotary motion of gearbox output drive shaft 584 is transmitted so asto drive the pickup unit 76, lower apron 80, front upper apron 120 andrear upper apron 326.

For transmitting the rotary motion of the gearbox drive shaft 584 to thepickup unit 76, lower apron 80 and front upper apron 326, an outer drivesprocket 588 and an inner drive pulley 590 are provided being securedside-by-side on the outer end of output drive shaft 584. The outer drivesprocket 588 is interconnected to the lower apron driven shaft 98 andthe pickup shaft 86 for transmitting continuous rotary motion theretofrom the output shaft 584 of the gearbox 580, while the inner drivepulley 590 is interconnected to the front upper apron driven shaft 204for transmitting rotary motion thereto.

The outer drive sprocket 588 is interconnected to the lower apron drivenshaft 98 by an endless chain 592 which extends between and over outersprocket 588 and an inner sprocket 593 secured to the left outer end ofaforementioned drive shaft 98 of the lower apron 80. The chain alsoextends under an idler sprocket 594 rotatably mounted on a bracket 596secured to the upper side of left forwardly-inclined support beam 56.The outer drive sprocket 588 is also interconnected to the pickup shaft86 by another endless chain 597 which extends between and over an outersprocket 598 secured to the left outer end of aforementioned drivenshaft 98 of the lower apron 80 adjacent to inner sprocket 593 and asprocket 600 secured to the left outer end of aforementioned pickupshaft 86.

Therefore, as viewed in FIG. 1, whenever the tractor pto is rotating,clockwise rotational motion transmitted to output drive shaft 584 istransmitted on to the lower apron driven shaft 98 which causescontinuous movement of apron 80 along an endless clockwise path with itsupper course moving in a rearward direction and to the pickup shaft 86which causes continuous movement of the tines 93 along a endlessclockwise path.

The inner drive pulley 590 is interconnected to the front upper aprondriven shaft 204 by an endless belt 602 which extends between and overinner drive pulley 590 and front upper apron pulley 604 secured to theleft end of aforementioned driven transverse shaft 204 of the frontupper apron 120. However, the normal level of tension on belt 604 isinsufficient to transmit the rotary motion of drive pulley 590 to frontupper apron pulley 602.

For selectively increasing the tension on belt 602 to a level sufficientto cause transmission of such rotary motion to the front upper apronshaft 204, an idler pulley 606, shown in FIG. 1 but omitted in FIG. 6,is positioned above and movable into engagement with the belt 602. Theidler pulley 606 is rotatably mounted to the rear end of arm 608 whichis pivotally mounted at its front end on bracket 610 being fixed to theupper side of left front brace 214. A triangular tab 612 is fixed to andextends upwardly from the upper side of pivotal arm 608. A spring 614interconnecting the tab 612 and the left side of front rack structure 60of mobile frame 12 biases the pivotal arm 608 to an upper position, asseen in FIG. 1, wherein such position the pulley 606 does not impose alevel of tension on the belt 602 sufficient to cause it to transmit therotary motion of pulley 590 to pulley 604.

For moving pulley 606 toward the belt 602, a cable 615 is connected atone end to the upper end of tab 612 and extends therefrom rearwardly andover a guide pulley 616 rotatably mounted to the outer side of leftfront upright beam 36 of mobile frame 12 and therefrom through a guidespool 617 mounted on left short beam 264 of mobile frame 12 to its otherend being secured to the left swingable arm 256 of the front upper apronraising and lowering component 250 at a location adjacent to, but spaceda short distance above, the pivot element 260 for the swingable arm 256.Whenever swingable arm 256 is pivoted to its lower position, the cable615, being of sufficient length to pull the tab 612 rearwardly, causesclockwise rotation of pivotal arm 608 and thereby movement of pulley 606toward and engagement thereof against belt 602 sufficiently to depressthe upper span of belt 602 and impose the level of tension on belt 602necessary to cause it to transmit rotary motion of drive pulley 590 tofront upper apron pulley 604.

Consequently, movement of the front upper apron 120 about an endlessclockwise path, as viewed in FIG. 1, only occurs when left swingable arm256 (and also right swingable arm 258 which is interconnected thereto bycross tube 268) has been pivoted downwardly to its lowered position suchas seen in FIGS. 20 through 22, or, thus, when the rear end of the frontchamber 68 has been closed by the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 72, as previously described. Upon return pivotal movement ofswingable arms 256, 258 to their upper positions of FIGS. 1, 2, 17, 18and 24, which opens the rear end of front chamber 68, the pulley 606 ismoved upwardly away from belt 602 by spring 614 and, consequently, themovement of the front upper apron 120 is interrupted or terminated.Therefore, the front upper apron 120 only moves during those occasionswhen the front chamber rear end is closed which is entirely satisfactorysince crop material roll forming operations can only occur in the frontchamber 68 when its rear end is closed. At all other times, the frontupper apron 120 is stationary or inoperative.

For transmitting the rotary motion of the gearbox output drive shaft 584to the rear upper apron 70, an inner drive sprocket 618 is providedbeing secured on shaft 584 adjacent gearbox 580 and interconnected tothe rear upper apron driven cross shaft 478 for transmitting rotarymotion thereto. The drive sprocket 618 is interconnected to the rearupper apron driven cross shaft 478 by a succession of interconnectedcomponents described hereinafter.

A drive transfer shaft 620 is disposed above and rearwardly of thegearbox 580 and aligned parallel to the gearbox output drive shaft 584.The shaft 620 adjacent its inner end is rotatably mounted by bearingbracket 622 fixed on and extending above the rear end of plate 582. Theshaft 620 adjacent its outer end is rotatably mounted by bearing bracket(not shown) fixed on and extending above the upper side of right frontbrace 216. The shaft 620 extends from adjacent the rear side of gearbox580 transversely across the machine 10 to the right side of mobile frame12 past right front brace 216. A drive transfer sprocket 626 is securedto the inner end of shaft 620 in alignment with drive sprocket 618 onoutput drive shaft 584 and the sprockets 618, 626 are interconnected bya chain 628 which extends between and over them. A driven pulley 630 isattached to the outer end of drive transfer shaft 620 and a drive belt632 extends between and over the drive pulley 630 and an inner drivenpulley 634 aligned with and located rearwardly of pulley 630. The drivenpulley is rotatably mounted on a stub shaft 636 fixed to and extendingoutwardly from right front upright beam 38 of mobile frame 12. An outersprocket 638 is rotatably mounted on the stub shaft 636 by being securedto the hub of inner driven pulley 634. A chain 640 extends between andover the outer sprocket 638 and a driven sprocket 642 aligned therewithand secured to the right outer end of driven cross shaft 478 of the rearupper apron 326. The top span of chain 640 passes respectively over andunder spaced apart idler sprocket gears 644, 646 which are rotatablymounted to the opposite ends of lever arm 648.

Since the driven cross shaft 478 (and thus driven sprocket 642 mountedthereon) is movable by rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 74between raised and lowered positions, as has been previously described,which changes the distance between sprockets 638, 642, the lever arm 648which rotatably mounts idler gears 644, 646 is pivotally mounted at alocation 649 between the gears to a bracket 650 which is fixed to anddepends from right lower middle brace structure 538 and is biased towardcounterclockwise rotation by a spring (not shown), which interconnectsthe forward end of lever arm 648 and the top end of bracket 650, inorder that the gears 644, 646 will move to accommodate the change in thetautness of chain 640 and maintain their biased engagement with the topspan of chain 640. For example, when the cross shaft 478 is movedupwardly which moves driven sprocket 642 closer to outer sprocket 638,the spring will cause slight counterclockwise pivotal movement of leverarm 648, as viewed in FIG. 2, to maintain the gears 644, 646 in biasedengagement with chain 640 and to takeup any slack which is developed inthe chain 640.

The aforementioned drive belt 632 which interconnects drive pulley 630and driven pulley 634 normally would not provide a driving connectionbetween the pulleys 630 and 634 since the normal level of tension onbelt 630 is insufficient to transmit the rotary motion of pulley 630 topulley 634.

For selectively increasing the tension on belt 632 to a level sufficientto cause transmission of such rotary motion to rear upper apron 326 viadriven pulley 634, an idler pulley 654, shown in FIG. 2 but omitted inFIG. 6, is positioned above and movable into engagement with the belt632. The idler pulley 654 is rotatably mounted to the rear end of arm656 which is pivotally mounted at its front end on bracket 658 beingfixed to and extending rearwardly and downwardly from the rear side offront rack 60. A tab 660 is fixed to and extends upwardly from the upperside of pivotal arm 656. A spring 662 interconnecting the tab 660 andthe lower end of right front brace 216 biases the pivotal arm 656 towardan upper position spaced above its lower position which is illustratedin FIG. 2, wherein such upper position the pulley 654 does not impose alevel of tension on the belt 632 sufficient to cause it to transmit therotary motion of pulley 630 to pulley 634.

For holding the idler pulley 654 toward the belt 632 so as to imposesufficient tension thereon to cause transmission of such rotary motion,a cable 664 is connected at one end to the upper end of tab 660 andextends therefrom rearwardly and upwardly to its other end which isinterconnected by tension spring 668 to upstanding bracket 670 fixed onthe upper end of right straight member 338 of upper frame 324. When therear chamber 70 is closed such that the upper frame 324 is disposed inits lowered position as seen in FIGS. 2 and 7, the cable 664 holdspivotal arm 656 at its lower position of FIG. 2 with idler pulley 654engaged with and depressing the upper span of belt 632 sufficiently toimpose the level of tension on belt 632 necessary to cause it totransmit rotary motion of drive pulley 630 to driven pulley 634 which,in turn, transmits rotary motion via chain 640 and sprockets 638, 642 tothe rear upper apron driven cross shaft 478 and causes the rear upperapron 326 to move along an endless counterclockwise path, as viewed inFIG. 2. However, when the upper frame 324 is moved to its raisedposition, as seen in broken line form in FIG. 7, during opening of therear chamber 70, the bracket 670 on upper frame 324 moves forwardlyallowing spring 668 to contact and to slacken such that biasing spring662 will then cause the pivotal arm 656 to pivot to its upper positionand idler pulley 654 to move upwardly away from belt 632, whereby thetransmission of such rotary motion beween pulleys 630 and 634 isinterrupted and movement of the rear upper apron 326 ceases.

Therefore, the rear upper apron 326 only moves during those occasionswhen the rear end of the rear chamber 70 is closed which is entirelysatisfactory since crop material roll forming operations can only occurin the rear chamber 70 when its rear end is closed.

In summary, it will be understood that the above-described drive meanscontinuously transmits rotary motion from the rotating tractor pto shaftto the pickup unit 76 and lower apron 80 so as to drive or move thesame. However, the drive means only transmits rotary motion from therotating tractor pto shaft to the front and rear upper aprons 120, 326to move the same when the front and rear chambers 68, 70 are closed byrespective mechanisms 72, 74.

TWINE WRAPPING MECHANISM

As briefly mentioned hereinbefore, a twine wrapping mechanism 75 isprovided on the mobile frame 12 at a location generally between thefront and rear chambers 68, 70. A receptacle 672 is mounted on the frontrack structure 60 of the mobile frame 12 which contains packages orrolls of binding material, such as twine, from which continuous strandsS are routed rearwardly along the frame 12 to the wrapping mechanism 75along any suitable paths (not shown).

As illustrated partially in FIGS. 1 and 2 and in greater detail in FIGS.6, 8, 9 and 10, the wrapping mechanism 75 basically includes threecomponents, namely, a twine applying means, generally designated by 674,a twine cutting means, generally designated by 676, and power means inthe form of hydraulic cylinder 678 for operating the twine applyingcomponent 674.

The twine applying means 674 includes preferably two twine applying arms680, 682 mounted respectively adjacent opposite sides of mobile frame12. The left arm 680 at its outer end is rotatably mounted by a shaft684 which extends between and is secured at its opposite ends to therespective inner ends of spaced apart left front and rear brackets 686,688 being clamped to left lower middle brace structure 536. The rightarm 682 at its outer end is rotatably mounted by a shaft 690 whichextends between and is secured at its opposite ends to the respectiveinner ends of spaced apart right front and rear bracket 692, 694 beingclamped to right lower middle brace structure 538.

While the use of two twine applying arms is preferred, it should bereadily understood that, alternatively, one or more than two arms andany other suitable mounting arrangements therefor may be utilized forapplying one or more strands of twine to the crop material roll.

The twine applying means also includes a tie rod 696 which extendstransversely across the frame 12 and is pivotally secured at itsopposite ends to respective plates 698, 670 being fixedly mounted to therear sides of the respective outer ends of the arms 680, 682. The rod696 pivotally interconnects the arms 680, 682 such that they will swingtogether about their respective shafts 684, 690 when moved between upperpositions, as seen in solid line form in FIG. 8, and lower positions, asseen in broken line form in FIG. 8. The inner, free ends of the arms680, 682 respectively mount tubular extensions 702, 704 which aresomewhat bent so as to be laterally offset from one another to avoidengagement between them when the arms 680, 682 are moved to their upperpositions during which movement the arcuate paths traversed by the outertips of the tubular extensions 702, 704 cross each other. Strands oftwine S are routed from the receptacle 672 along the sides of the frame12 and then into the respective arms 680, 682 adjacent their outer ends,through the hollow interior of the arms and tubular extensions and outthrough the outer tips of the extensions, as seen in FIG. 8. Therefore,when the arms 680, 682 are moved to their lower positions, the free endsof the strands S are placed on the lower apron 80 forwardly of andadjacent to the opposite ends of a roll of crop material which has beenformed in the rear chamber 70. The upper course of the lower apron 80carries the free ends of the strands under the rotating roll along withfinal portions of crop material. The continuing rotation of the cropmaterial roll moves the strands about the roll and pulls additionalportions of the continuous strands from the receptacle 672, along theframe 12 and through the arms 680, 682 and extensions 702, 704. Once theroll has rotated so that the strands of twine encircle thecircumferential end portions of the roll, the arms 680, 682 are movedfrom their lower, downwardly-depending positions back toward theirupper, overlapping positions. As the arms are so moved, the tips ofextensions 702, 704 sweep upwardly along opposing arcuate paths oftravel which progressively bring the tips toward each other, until theycross or overlap near the top of the paths, and feed the strands fromthe extension tips along the bottom of the roll progressively from theopposite ends toward the center thereof. Consequently, by the time thearms reach their upper positions, strands of twine has been wrappedabout the roll in a helical or spiralling fashion over the entirecircumferential area of the roll.

The arms 680, 682 are moved between their upper and lower positions byhydraulic cylinder 678. The cylinder 678 is pivotally anchored at itscylinder end by pivot element 706 to the left end of a channel member708 which extends transversely across the frame 12 above the arms 680,682 and between left and right upper middle brace structures 196, 198 towhich the member 708 is connected at its opposite ends. The lower pistonrod end of cylinder 678 is pivotally secured to a bracket 710 which, inturn, is fixed on a plate 712 being secured to the front side of theouter end of left arm 680. Extension of cylinder 678 causes left arm 680and right arm 682 therewith, via the interconnection provided by the rod696, to pivotally move about respective shafts 684,690 from the upper tothe lower positions. Retraction of cylinder 678 pivotally returns thearms 680,682 to their upper positions. A tension spring 714 is connectedbetween tie rod 696 and channel member 708 so as to urge the arms680,682 toward their upper positions. Thus, the spring 714 will maintainthe arms 680,682 at their upper positions and thereby avoid thepossibility of damage thereto if a loss of hydraulic pressure shouldinadvertently occur in cylinder 678 particularly at the time a partiallyformed roll or core of crop material is being transferred from the frontchamber 68 to the rear chamber 70.

The twine cutting means 676 is operable to sever the strands S of twineadjacent and forwardly of the bottom center of the crop material rollupon being brought adjacent to each other when the tips of extensions702, 704 near the upper ends of their arcuate paths. The means 676includes a plate 716 extending transversely across the frame 12 andmounted in a generally forward inclination between forwardly-protrudingleft and right flanges 718, 720 which are attached to corresponding leftand right mounting structures 480, 482 on the forward ends of left andright pivotal arms 484, 486 of the rear chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 74. At a generally central location along the forward edge ofplate 716 is defined a generally semi-circular notch 722 within whichthe twine strands are captured when the tips of twine arm extensions702, 704 reach their upper, overlapped positions. Also left and rightsurfaces 724, 726 are formed on the front edge of plate 716 on eitherside of the notch 722 which oppositely taper toward the notch 722 so asto insure that the twine strands, which during the wrapping operationextend downwardly from the extension tips and around and under the platefront edge and therefrom rearwardly to the crop material roll, will bothbe guided into the notch 722 as the tips of extensions 702, 704 reachtheir upper positions.

The twine cutting means 676 further includes a knife element 728 havinga cutting edge. The top peripheral edge portion of the plate 716 aboutthe notch 722 serves as a cutting edge across which the cutting edge ofthe knife element 728 sweeps to sever the twine strand portions whichextend between the roll and the twine applying arms 680, 682. Because ofthe forward inclination of the plate 716 and the generally downward pathof the twine strand portions between the twine arms and plate 716, itwill be readily understood from FIG. 10A that the strand portions do notnormally contact the upper cutting edge of the notch until the actualsevering operation occurs. Therefore, wear due to friction caused by themoving twine strands occurs at the lower non-cutting edge of the notchrather than at the upper cutting edge thereof.

The knife element 728 is secured to a knife mounting plate 730 which ispivotally mounted at one end by a fastener 732 to the plate 716rearwardly of the notch 722 and pivotally connected at its opposite endto an inner end of an actuating rod 734. The actuating rod 734 extendstoward the left side tof frame 12 along and above the upper surface ofthe transverse plate 716 through an opening in right triangular-shapedflange 720 to its outer end which rotatably mounts a cam follower orroller 736. A bracket 738 is fixed at its lower end to and extendsupwardly from left side sheet 230 and includes an inwardly-protrudingV-shaped cam surface 740 which overlies the roller 736. A tension spring742, being connected at its outer end by a bracket 744 to the transverseplate 716 and at its inner end by a collar 746 to the actuating rod 734,biases the latter toward the left side of the frame 12 so as to normallymaintain the roller 736 under the cam surface 740 and the knife element728 adjacent the notch 722 and rearwardly of the guide surfaces 724, 726so as not to obstruct the path of movement the twine strands into thenotch 722.

Once the twine arms 680, 682 have reached their upper positions and thestrands extend downwardly through the notch 722, the extension ofhydraulic cylinders 516, 518 to actuate the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism 74, which as previously described involvesthe upward pivotal movement of arms 484,486, also causes the elevationof the roller 736 toward and its engagement with the cam surface 740. Asthe roller 736 follows the lower portion of the inwardly-protruding camsurface 740, the rod 734 is moved toward the right side of the frame 12and swings the knife element 728 across the notch 722 to sever strandsof twine. Once the roller 736 passes the innermost point 744 of the camsurface 740, the spring 742 returns the rod 734 back towards the leftside of the frame 12. When the arms 484,486 are returned to their lowerposition by retraction of hydraulic cylinders 516,518, the upper portioncam surface 740 engages the roller 736 and causes rod 734 to again shiftmomentarily toward the right side of the frame 12. However, once theroller 736 again has passed the innermost point 744 of cam surface 740,spring 742 again returns the rod 734 back to its initial position.

It will be understood from the above description of the twine severingoperation that the twine strands are severed at the moment that the rearchamber opening-and-closing mechanism 74 initiates opening of the rearchamber 70 for ejection of the completed and wrapped crop material rollfrom the rear chamber 70.

CONTROL MEANS FOR SYNCHRONIZING CONTINUOUS ROLL FORMING, WRAPPING ANDDISCHARGING OPERATIONS

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, control means for the machine 10preferably includes a variable displacement, pressure compensated pump746 supported on the transverse beam 62 of frame 12 which is the sourceof hydraulic power for causing extension and retraction of the varioushydraulic cylinders of the front and rear chamber opening-and-closingmechanisms 72, 74 and the roll wrapping mechanism 75. The pump 746 maybe the one commercially available from the Cessna Fluid Power Divisionof Cessna Aircraft Company designated by Part No. XD0422-LAB. The pump746 is in communication with and draws fluid via line 747 (FIG. 12) froma hydraulic fluid reservoir or tank 748 which is supported on the frontrack structure 60 of the frame 12 adjacent the binding materialreceptacle 672.

As seen in FIG. 6, an input shaft 750 of the pump 746 is interconnectedto and driven by the input drive shaft 578 of the gearbox 580 via adrive train, generally designated 752. Therefore, whenever the tractorp.t.o. is rotating, the pump 746 is operating so as to be ready to causethe flow of hydraulic fluid to any of the hydraulic cylinders whendemanded by the latter.

The hydraulic circuit on the machine 10 for providing fluidcommunication between the pump 746, the tank 748 and the cylinders 254,516, 518 and 678 is schematically represented in FIG. 12. Also, variousconventional hydraulic control valves for controlling the various flowpaths between the pump, tank and cylinders are schematically illustratedin FIG. 12 and will be described hereinafter along with variousmechanical control components associated therewith which areinterconnected with previously-described components of the front andrear chamber opening-and-closing mechanisms 72, 74 and the twinewrapping mechanism 75 so as to synchronize the functions performed bythese latter mechanisms in a manner which provides for continuous,non-stop formation, wrapping and discharge of crop material rolls by themachine 10 as it is towed across the field. Three different groups ofcontrol components will be described hereinafter.

FIRST GROUP OF CONTROL COMPONENTS

Referring to FIG. 11, there is shown a first group of components whichcontrol the actuation of the rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism74. The first group basically includes a rear chamber slide device 754being interconnected to upper frame 324 and wrapping mechanism 75, aprimary hydraulic control valve 756 disposed adjacently below slidedevice 754, a valve lever 758 associated with the slide device 754 andprimary valve 756, a secondary hydraulic control valve 760, a valvelever 762 associated with the secondary control valve 760, a bale tripmechanism 764 (FIG. 5) disposed in the bottom of the rear chamber 70 andinterconnected with the secondary valve lever 762 and an actuating arm766 connected to the upper frame 324 and associated with the secondarycontrol valve 760.

The rear chamber slide device 754 is comprised by a bar 768 slideablymounted by spaced apart brackets 770,772 being fixed to upper left sideplate 774 which about its periphery is secured to left middle uprightrail 32, left front upright beam 36, left side tube 52 and left lowermiddle brace structure 536. A two-position detent plate 776 is fastenedto and depends from the slide bar 768. A yieldable over-centering lever778 is pivotally mounted at 780 to left side plate 774. The lever 778rotatably mounts a roller 782 at its forward end and is connected at itsrear end to the upper end of a tension spring 784 being secured by afastener 786 at its lower end to a bracket 788 mounted on left sideplate 774. The spring 784 biases the over-centering lever 778 in aclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 11.

The primary hydraulic control valve 756 for the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism 74 is mounted to the left side plate 774below and adjacent the forward end portion of the slide bar 768. Theouter end of a spool 790 of the primary control valve 756 extends fromthe rear end thereof and is pivotally connected to the valve lever 758at an intermediate location therealong spaced from its lower end atwhich the lever 758 is pivotally mounted to left side plate 774 and itsupper end at which the lever 758 is received within a coupler 792fastened to and depending from the forward end portion of the slide bar768 adjacent the detent plate 776. The secondary hydraulic control valve760 for the rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 74 is mounted torear left side panel 44 and includes a spool 794 having opposite endswhich extend outwardly from the upper and lower ends of the valve 760.The secondary valve lever 762 is pivotally mounted at its middle to sidepanel 44 such that the forward end of the lever 762 underlies the lowerend of the secondary valve spool 794.

The rear chamber bale trip mechanism 764 (FIG. 5) includes a shaft 796being rotatably mounted adjacent its opposite ends respectively to leftside panel 44 and a support member 798 which interconnects and extendsbetween transverse channel beams 108 (one of which is seen in FIG. 5)which underlie the floor 78. A tab 800 is fixed to and extends radiallyoutwardly from the rear side of shaft 796 and is interconnected at itsouter end by an upwardly-extending cable 802 to the rear end of thesecondary valve lever 762. The trip mechanism shaft 796 has a bale trippaddle 804 fixed thereto and radially-extending upwardly therefrom at alocation intermediately between the ends of the shaft 796. A rectangularopening 806 is defined in the floor 78 and a spring 808 interconnectedbetween a bracket 810 fixed on left rail 14 and another tab 812 fixed onshaft 796 yieldably holds the rotatably shaft 796 in an angular positionin which the bale trip paddle 804 normally extends in an upward andrearward direction through the floor opening 806.

The upper end of the actuating arm 766 is pivotally mounted at 814 nearthe upper end of left arcuate member 340 of upper frame 324. The arm 766extends in a downward direction through a bracket 816 (FIG. 11) fixed toleft side panel 44. A lever 818 is pivotally mounted to the arm 766above its lower end and is adapted to yieldably engage a flat plate 820fixed on the upper end of secondary valve spool 794.

Referring to FIG. 12, the spool 790 of primary control valve 756 ismovable between "in" and "out" positions and is schematicallyrepresented at its "out" position. The spool 794 of scondary controlvalve 760 is movable between "upper" and "lower" positions and isschematically represented in its "upper" position.

When the spools 790,794 are at their respective FIG. 12 positions,hydraulic fluid under pressure from the pump 746 communicates with thepiston rod ends of left and right rear chamber opening-and-closingcylinders 516,518 via lines 822,824,826 and branch lines 830,832 so asto maintain the cylinders 516,518 in their retracted conditions, whilethe cylinder ends of cylinders 516,518 communicate with the tank 748 viabranch lines 834, 836 and lines 838,840,842. With the cylinders 516,518retracted, the upper frame 324 is disposed in its lowered position andpivotal arms 484,486 are maintained at their lowered position. The rearend of the rear chamber 70 is then closed and the crop material inletopening to the rear chamber 70 is then closed and the crop materialinlet opening to the rear chamber 70 only has a height sufficient toreceive a layer of crop material being conveyed rearwardly by lowerapron 80. Therefore, when the valve spools 790,794 are in theirrespective "out" and "upper" positions illustrated in FIG. 12, the rearchamber 70 is either set up to initiate the continuous roll formingoperations of machine 10 or has just previously received a roll corefrom the front chamber 68 and is now in the process of adding more cropmaterial to the roll core to build it up to its final desired diameter.

Once the crop material roll being formed in the rear chamber 70substantially reaches the desired maximum size, the hydraulic cylinder678 of wrapping mechanism 75 is extended, as caused by interaction ofthe front takeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 of the rear chamber 70 witha second group of control components which will be describedhereinafter, whereby the two twine applying arms 680,682 pivotally swingdown to their lower positions. Once the arms 680,682 reach their lower,side positions, they dwell there momentarily. Then, the hydrauliccylinder 678 of the wrapping mechanism 75 is retracted, as caused byinteraction of the front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72 withthe second group of control components which interaction will also bedescribed hereinafter, whereby the twine applying arms 680,682 begin topivotally swing back up to their upper positions, applying strands oftwine to the circumference of the roll.

As the twine applying arms 680,682 approach their upper positions, a pin844 protruding from the forward side of left arm 680 adjacent its outerend engages the right end of a tab 846 and causes the tab 846 to pivotin a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 8, as the arm 680 and thepin 844 carried thereon move upwardly pass the tab 846. The tab 846 ispivotally mounted at its center at 848 to the lower end of a bracket 850fixed at its upper end and depending from channel member 708. A spring852 interconnected between the left end of the tab 846 and the frontleft bracket 686 returns the tab 846 to the position seen in FIG. 8irrespective of which direction the tab 846 has been pivoted by the pin844 (the tab 846 is pivoted counterclockwise during the downward strokeof left applying arm 680).

As seen in FIGS. 6, 8 and 11, a cable 854, which extends over pulley 856rotatably mounted on channel member 708 and therefrom to and overanother pulley 858 rotatably mounted within an opening 860 defined inleft side plate 774, interconnects the left end of the pivotal tab 846with the rear end of rear chamber slide bar 768. When the tab 846 ispivoted clockwise as viewed in FIG. 8, the portion of the cable 854 seenin FIG. 8 is pulled downwardly and the portion of the cable 854 seen inFIG. 11 is pulled forwardly, which results in slide bar 768 being movedforwardly. As slide bar 768 moves forwardly, the yieldableover-centering lever 778 pivots counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 11,due to its roller 782 being forced to move from a left seat position,designated as D, on the detent plate 776 and follow the left side of adownwardly-projecting V-shaped cam surface 862 thereon, until the lowerapex of cam surface 862 has passed to the left of the over-centeringlever roller 782, the force of spring 784 which biases theover-centering lever 778 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 11,and is transmitted by roller 782 against the right side of cam surface862, is sufficient to make the slide bar 768 keep moving forwardly untilroller 782 has reached a right seat position, designated as U, on thedetent plate 776 without any further assistance from the twine arm 680through cable 854. Therefore, it will be seen that because of theprovision of the over-centering lever 778 and its function to insure aconsistent displacement of slide bar 768 equal to the distance betweenseat positions D and U each time the slide bar is moved, thedisplacement of the slide bar 768 provided by the pivoting of tab 846and the resulting pull by cable 854 need only be enough to insure thatthe apex of the cam surface 862 of the detent plate 776 passes from theright to the left side of the over-centering roller 782.

As the slide bar 768 is moved forwardly, or to the left as viewed inFIG. 11, the primary valve lever 758, being received at its upper endwithin the coupler 792 on the slide bar 768, is pivoted counterclockwisefrom position O to position I (FIG. 12). As a result, the spool 790 ofthe primary control valve 756 is moved from its "out" position to its"in" position. When the primary spool 790 reaches its "in" position, andassuming the secondary spool 794 is still at its "upper" position,hydraulic fluid under pressure from pump 746 is now supplied along lines822, 824,838 and branch lines 834,836 to the cylinder ends of rearchamber opening-and-closing mechanism cylinders 516,518 (and fluid isallowed to return to the tank 748 along branch lines 830,832 and lines828,826,826,840,942 from the piston rod ends of cylinders 516,518) whichcauses extension thereof and pivotal movement of upper frame 324 andpivotal arms 484,486 to their respective upper positions (see FIG. 7).As upper frame 324 approaches its upper position disignated as 574 inFIG. 7, the rear end of the rear chamber 70 is sufficiently opened forthe completed and wrapped roll to be discharged from the machine 10 ontothe field by lower apron 80.

As upper frame 324 reaches its upper position 574, a tab 864 fixed uponand extending upwardly from the left straight member 336 of the upperframe 324 has pivoted counterclockwise, as viewed in FIG. 7 and 11. Acable 866, which extends over pulley 868 rotatably mounted to the rearside of the upper end of left middle upright rail 32, interconnects theupper end of the tab 864 and the rear end of the rear chamber slide bar768. The cable 866 is normally somewhat slack, but as the upper frame324 reaches its upper position, the pivotal movement of tab 864therewith has drawn all of the slack out of cable 866 and during thelast few inches of upward movement of the upper frame has pulled theportion of the cable 866 which extends between pulley 868 and the rearend of slide bar 768 in a rearward direction through a displacementsufficient to move the apex of the cam surface 862 of the slide bardetent plate 776 from the left to the right side of the over-centeringlever roller 782 whereupon the above-described functioning of theover-centering lever 778 causes the slide bar 768 to keep movingrearwardly until its roller 782 reaches the left seat position D.

As the slide bar 768 is moved rearwardly, or toward its FIG. 11position, the primary valve lever 758 is pivoted clockwise from positionI back to position O of FIG. 12. As a result, the spool 790 of theprimary control valve 756 is moved from its "in" position to its "out"position. When the primary spool 790 reaches its "out" position,hydraulic fluid under pressure from pump 746 is again supplied alonglines 822,824,826,828 and branch lines 830,832 to the piston rod ends ofrear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism cylinders 516,518 (and fluidis allowed to return to the tank 748 along branch lines 834,386 andlines 838,840,842 from the cylinder ends of cylinders 516,518) whichcauses retraction thereof and pivotal movement of upper frame 324 backtoward its lower position.

If the secondary spool 794 was to remain at its "upper" position, asseen in FIG. 12, the cylinders 516,518 would retract completely andpivotally move the upper frame 324 and the arms 484,486 to theirrespective lower positions. Such state of affairs would be satisfactory,if, prior to lowering of the pivotal arms 484,486, the roll core beingformed in the front chamber 68 had reached its desired predeterminedsize and transferred into the rear chamber 70. However, it is impossibleto guarantee that the roll core in the front chamber 68 will beadequately formed in the time allotted for wrapping of the finished rollin the rear chamber 70 and the subsequent discharge of the roll from themachine 10.

Therefore, actuating arm 766 is provided for causing the spool 794 ofsecondary control valve 760 to move to its "lower" position and stopretraction of the rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism cylinders516,518 when the downwardly-moving upper frame 324 reaches its partiallyclosed position 572, as illustrated in broken line form in FIG. 7. Itwill be noted that when the upper frame 324 is at partially closedposition 572, the pivotal arms 484,486 which control the height of thefront inlet opening to the rear chamber 70 are still held at theirraised positions by springs 528,530, whereby the height dimension of therear chamber inlet opening is still at a maximum and sufficient enoughto allow the movement of the core of the roll therethrough whendischarged from the front chamber 68.

Specifically, as the upper frame 324 approaches its partially closedposition 572, the front end of lever 818 on downwardly-moving actuatingarm 766 engages the top side of flat plate 820 fixed on the upper end ofthe secondary valve spool 794 and pushes the spool 794 downwardly fromits "upper" to its "lower" position. As seen in FIG. 12, when the spool794 is at its "lower" position the supply of hydraulic fluid underpressure to the piston rod ends of cylinders 516,518 is cutoff andthereby retraction of the cylinders 516,518 ceases.

Movement of secondary spool 794 back to its "upper" position so that thecylinders 516,518 may fully retract and the rear end of rear chamber 70become fully closed is solely dependent upon formation of the core of aroll to the desired diameter in the front chamber 68 and then transferof the core into the rear chamber 70. After the core enters the rearchamber 70 and moves toward the rear end thereof, it will engage anddeflect or depress the bale trip paddle 804 of the rear chamber baletrip mechanism 764 which will pull downwardly on cable 802 and therebycause secondary valve lever 762 to pivot clockwise, as viewed in FIGS.1, 7 and 11, and push the spool 794 upwardly back to its "upper"position. Then when the cylinders 516,518 fully retract and the upperframe 324 pivots downwardly from its position 572 to its fully closedposiition, it will be seen that the actuating arm 766 also moves furtherdownwardly therewith. The lever 818 in being pivotally and yieldablymounted to the arm 766, will pivot so as to pass below the flat plate820 on the upper end of secondary valve spool 794 without disturbing thespool's position, since the secondary valve lever 762 is holding thespool 794 at its "upper" position.

SECOND GROUP OF CONTROL COMPONENTS

Referring to FIG. 11 again, there is shown a second group of componentswhich control the actuation of the twine wrapping mechanism 75. Thesecond group basically includes a wrapping mechanism slide device 870being alternately actuable by the front takeup-and-expansion mechanism328 of the rear chamber 70 and the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 72, a hydraulic control valve 872 disposed adjacently belowslide device 870, a control valve lever 874 associated with the slidedevice 870 and control valve 872, a pivotal pedal 876 associated withthe slide device 870 and the front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism72 and a movable latch 878 associated with the slide device 870 and thefront takeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 of the rear chamber 70.

The wrapping mechanism slide device 870 is comprised by a bar 880slideably mounted by spaced apart brackets 882,884 being fixedrespectively to upper left side plate 774 and a mounting plate 885 fixedto and extending rearwardly from left middle upright rail 32. Atwo-position detent plate 886 is fastened to and depends from the slidebar 880. A yieldable over-centering lever 888 is pivotally mounted at890 to left side plate 774. The lever 888 rotatably mounts a roller 892at its forward end and is connected at its rear end to the upper end ofa tension spring 894 being secured by a fastener 896 at its lower end toa bracket 898 mounted on left side plate 774. The spring 894 biases theover-centering lever 888 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 11.

The control valve 872 for the wrapping mechanism 75 is mounted to theleft side plate 774 below and adjacent the forward end portion of theslide bar 880. The outer end of a spool 900 of the valve 872 extendsfrom the rear side thereof and is pivotally connected to the valve lever874 at an intermediate location therealong spaced from its lower end atwhich the lever 874 is pivotally mounted to left side plate 774 and itsupper end at which the lever 874 is received within a coupler 902fastened to and depending from the forward end portion of the slide bar880 adjacent the detent plate 886.

The pedal 876 is pivotally mounted at 904 to top middle edge portion ofleft side sheet 230 immediately forwardly of bracket 738. A cable 906interconnects the middle portion of the pedal 876 and the forward end ofthe slide bar 880 and also extends over a pulley 908 rotatably mountedto left side plate 774 at a location spaced forwardly from the slide bar880.

The movable latch 878 is disposed between a pair of interconnected,side-by-side spaced apart metal pieces which comprise the slide bar 880.The rear end portion of the latch 878 has a horizontally-extending slot910 defined therein. A rear pin 912, fastened at its opposite ends tothe two pieces of slide bar 880 and extending therebetween, extendsthrough the latch slot 910. A large, generally square-shaped opening 914is defined in the latch 878 at a generally middle location along thelatch 878. Also, a small notch 916 is defined in the latch 878 adjacentthe forward, lower corner of the square opening 914. A forward pin 918,fastened at its opposite ends to the two pieces of slide bar 880 andextending therebetween, extends through the notch 916 and supports thelatch 878, as shown in FIG. 11, such that an upper, forward end portion920 thereof extends upwardly from the top side of slide bar 880. Aspring 922 interconnects the latch 878 and the left side plate 774 so asto bias the latch 878 for pivotal movement in a generallycounterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 11, about the rear pin912.

Referring to FIG. 12, the spool 900 of wrapping mechanism control valve872 is movable between "in" and "out" positions and is schematicallyrepresented at its "in" position. When the spool 900 is at its FIG. 12position, hydraulic fluid under pressure from the pump 746 communicateswith the piston rod end of wrapping mechanism hydraulic cylinder 678 vialines 822, 824, 924, 926 so as to maintain the cylinder 678 in itsretracted condition, while the cylinder end of cylinder 678 communicateswith the tank 748 via lines 928, 930, 842. With the cylinder 678retracted, the twine applying arms 680, 682 are disposed in their upperpositions, as seen in solid line form in FIG. 8.

As briefly mentioned above, once the crop material roll being formed inthe rear chamber 70 substantially reaches the desired maximum size, thehydraulic cylinder 678 of the wrapping mechanism 75 is extended due tointeraction of the front takeup-and-expansion mechanism 328, whereby thetwo twine applying arms 680, 682 pivotally swing down to their lower,side positions to initiate the application of twine to the roll.Actuation of the cylinder 678 is brought about as follows.

A tab 932 fixed to and extending outwardly from the left cam plate 446of the left portion of the front takeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 ofthe rear chamber 70 progressively moves along a rearward and downwardarcuate path P as the mechanism 328 rotates in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 11, as a roll being formed in the rearchamber 70 grows in diameter. As the roll nears its desired finaldiameter, the tab 932 engages the forward end portion 920 of the latch878 and pushes the latch 878 rearwardly. Rearward movement of latch 878carries the slide bar 880 with it.

As the slide bar 880 moves rearwardly, the yieldable over-centeringlever 888 pivots counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 11, due to itsroller 892 being forced to move from a right seat position, designatedas U, on the detent plate 886 and follow the right side of adownwardly-projecting V-shaped cam surface 934 thereon, until the lowerapex of the cam surface 934 on the detent plate 886 passes the roller892. Once the apex of cam surface 934 has passed to the right of theover-centering lever roller 892, the force of spring 894, which biasesthe over-centering lever 888 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG.11, and is transmitted by roller 892 against the left side of camsurface 934, is sufficient to make the slide bar 880 keep movingrearwardly until roller 892 has reached a left seat position, designatedas D, without any further assistance from the tab 932 on the fronttakeup-and-expansion mechanism 328.

Prior to when the roller 892 reaches its left seat position D on detentplate 886, the rear end of the latch 878 engages stop pin 936, which isfixed to and extends outwardly from mounting plate 885 adjacent to rearbracket 884, and thereby ceases its rearward movement. However, becauseof the horizontal clearance adjacent slide bar pin 912 provided by slot910 in latch 878 and because of the functioning of over-centering lever888, the rearward movement of the slide bar 880 continues even thoughmovement of latch 878 has stopped.

Once slide bar 880 has moved only slightly toward the rear and relativeto the stationary latch 878, the forward pin 918 on the bar 880 movesout of small notch 916 defined in the latch 878 and into the largesquare opening 914. When this happens, the latch 878 pivots downwardly,due to the counterclockwise biasing force imposed thereon by spring 922,until the upper edge of the square opening 914 comes to rest on theforward pin 918. In this latter position of the latch 878, its top edgeat its forward end portion 920 is at the level of the top side of theslide bar 880. Therefore, the mechanism 328 may continue to rotatecounterclockwise a slight degree and the tab 932 on the mechanism 328can continue to move therewith rearwardly for a short distance past theforward end portion 920 of the latch 878 as the final size of the rollbeing formed in the rear chamber 70 is reached during the time the twinearms 680, 682 are lowered.

As the slide bar 880 is moved rearwardly, or to the right as viewed inFIG. 11, the valve lever 874, being received at its upper end within thecomplex 902 on the slide bar 880, is pivoted clockwise from position Ito position O of FIG. 12. As a result, the spool 900 of the wrappingmechanism control valve 872 is moved from its "in" position to its "out"position. When the spool 900 reaches its "out" position, hydraulic fluidunder pressure from pump 746 is now supplied along lines 822, 824, 924,928 to the cylinder end of the wrapping mechanism hydraulic cylinder 678(and fluid is allowed to return to the tank 748 along lines 926, 930,842 from the piston rod end of cylinder 678) which causes extensionthereof and pivotal movement of the twine applying arms 680, 682 totheir lower, side positions, as seen in broken line form in FIG. 8.

The downward pivotal movement of the twine applying arms 680, 682, dueto the coupling of a third group of control components therewith whichwill be described hereinafter, causes extension of the hydrauliccylinder 254 of the front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72,whereby the front upper apron raising and lowering component 250(comprised by swingable arms 256, 258 and cross tube 268) is loweredtoward the floor 78 (and the ramps 282 of the floor portion lowering andraising component 252 are simultaneously raised). As the component 250reaches its lowered position, the left end of cross tube 265 downwardlydeflects or depressed the pedal 876 which pulls the vertical portion ofcable 906 downward and the horizontal portion of cable 906 forwardthrough a displacement sufficient to move the apex of the cam surface934 of the slide bar detent plate 886 from the right to the left side ofthe over-centering lever roller 892 whereupon the functioning of theover-centering lever 888 causes the slide bar 880 to keep movingforwardly until its roller 892 reaches the right seat position U.

As the slide bar 880 is moved forwardly, or toward the left in FIG. 11,the valve lever 874 is pivoted counterclockwise from position O toposition I of FIG. 12. As a result, the spool 900 is moved from its "in"position, hydraulic fluid under pressure from pump 746 is again suppliedalong lines 822, 824, 924, 926 to the piston rod end of wrappingcylinder 678 (and fluid is allowed to return to the tank 748 along lines928,930,842 from the cylinder end of cylinder 678) which causesretraction thereof and pivotal movement of the twine applying arms680,682 back toward their upper positions, as seen in solid line form inFIG. 8. Within the hydraulic fluid line 926, a one-way, variable, flowcontrol valve 936 is interposed which may be regulated or manipulated asdesired to change the speed at which the twine arms 680,682 are pivotedupwardly and thereby, depending upon whether the speed is increased ordecreased, provide for less or more wraps of twine about the roll. Also,a hydraulic fluid line 938 which includes a one-way check valve 940 isinterposed as a by-pass around the flow control valve 936 for allowingfree flow of fluid from the piston rod end of cylinder 678 to the tank748 during extension of the cylinder 678 and, thus, during the downwardstroke of the twine arms 680,682. Since strands of twine are not beingapplied to the roll during the downward pivoting of the twine arms680,682, it is desirable that the arms 680,682 reach their lower, sidepositions as quickly as possible so as to positively place the free endsof the twine strands on the lower apron 80 or incoming hay and tominimize the possibility of the free ends inadvertently becomingentangled or caught on adjacent structures.

As has been previously described, when the twine applying arms 680,682approach their upper positions, the first group of control componentsbeing coupled with the left arm 680 cause extension of the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism cylinders 516,518 which results insevering of the twine strands by cutting means 676 and upward pivotingof the upper frame 324 which opens the rear end of the rear chamber 70and allows the lower apron 80 to discharge the completed and wrappedroll from the machine 10 onto the field.

When the slide bar 880 was moved forwardly, or toward the left in FIG.11, the latch 878 was still positioned with the upper edge of its squareopening 914 resting on the forward pin 918 of the slide bar 880. Thus,the top edge of the forward end portion 920 of the latch 878 was stillat the level of the top side of the slide bar 880. However, it will bereadily understood that, before another roll is completely formed in therear chamber 70, in some way the latch 878 must be lifted in order thatthe small notch 916 of the latch 878 will again receive the forward pin918 of the bar 880, whereby the latch 878 will be reset with its forwardend portion 920 extending above the slide bar 880 and within the arcuatepath P of the tab 932 on the left portion of the fronttakeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 of the rear chamber 70.

The latch 878 is reset back to its FIG. 11 position when the component514 for raising and lowering the front portion of the rear upper apron326 has been raised upon extension of the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism cylinders 516,518. Specifically, when arms484,486 of component 514 are pivoted and near their raised position,shown in broken line form in FIG. 7, the upper end of a upstanding tab942 fixed on left mounting structure 480 at the forward end of the leftarm 484 engages a contact element 944 adjustably secured on the lowerend of a forward, downwardly-extending leg 946 of the latch 878 andlifts the latch upwardly. Once the forward pin 918 on the bar 880becomes horizontally aligned with the small notch 916, the biasing forceimposed on the latch 878 by the spring 922 is directed such that thelatch 878 is moved rearwardly relative to the bar 880 through adisplacement sufficient to place the notch 916 about the forward pin 918whereby the latch is supported on the pin 918 with the forward endportion 920 of the latch 878 extending above the slide bar 880, as seenin FIG. 11. Furthermore, the spring 922 will retain the latch 878 insuch position relative to the slide bar 880 until the latch and bar areagain moved rearwardly and the latch contacts stop pin 936.

THIRD GROUP OF CONTROL COMPONENTS

Still referring to FIG. 11, there is shown a third group of componentswhich control the actuation of the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 72. The third group basically includes a front chamber slidedevice 948 being alternately actuatable by the upper frame 324 of therear chamber 70 and the wrapping mechanism 75, a hydraulic control valve950 disposed adjacently below the slide device 948, a control valvelever 952 associated with the slide device 948 and control valve 950, afirst pivotal actuator 954 associated with the slide device 948 and thewrapping mechanism 75, a second pivotal actuator 956 associated with theslide device 948 and the upper frame 324 and a slideable lock 958associated with the slide device 948 and the takeup-and-expansionmechanism 122 of the front chamber 68.

The front chamber slide device 948 is comprised by a bar 960 slideablymounted by spaced apart brackets 962,964 being fixed to upper left sideplate 774. A two-position detent plate 966 is fastened to and dependsfrom the slide bar 960. A yieldable over-centering lever 968 ispivotally mounted at 970 to left side plate 774. The lever 968 rotatablymounts a roller 972 at its rearward end and is connected at its forwardend to the upper end of a tension spring 974 being secured by a fastener976 at its lower end to a bracket 978 mounted on left side plate 774.The spring 974 biases the over-centering 968 in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 11.

The control valve 950 for the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 72 is mounted to the left side plate 774 below and adjacentthe rearward end portion of the slide bar 960. The outer end of a spool980 of the valve 950 extends from the front side thereof and ispivotally connected to the valve lever 952 at an intermediate locationtherealong spaced from its lower end at which the lever 952 is pivotallymounted to left side plate 774 and its upper end at which the lever 952is received within a coupler 982 fastened to and depending from theslide bar 960 adjacent the detent plate 966.

The first pivotal actuator 954 is pivotally mounted at 984 above theslide bar 960 and to the left side plate 774 such that a roller 985rotatably mounted on a lower end of the actuator 954 is disposedrearwardly of and adjacentt to an upstanding tab 986 fixed at anintermediate location along the slide bar 960. An upper end of theactuator 954 is interconnected by a cable 988 to the bracket 710 (FIGS.6 and 8) which, in turn, is fixed on the plate 712 being secured to thefrontside of the outer end of left twine applying arm 680. The cable 988extends upwardly from the bracket 710 over pulley 990 rotatably mountedon channel member 708 and therefrom leftwardly to and over anotherpulley 992 rotatably mounted within an opening 994 defined in left sideplate 774 and finally forwardly to the upper end of actuator 954.

The second pivotal actuator 956 is pivotally mounted at 996 to themounting plate 885 and includes an upwardly-extending forward portion998 and a rearwardly-extending rear portion 1000 having an outer tip1002. A cable 1004 is connected at one end to the upper end of forwardportion 998 and extends forwardly to an opposite end which is connectedto the rear end of a spring 1006. The forward end of the spring 1006 isconnected to the rear end of the slide bar 960. The outer tip 1002normally is disposed within the path of movement of a tab 1008 beingfixed on the actuating arm 766 of the first group of control components,previously described.

The slideable lock 958 in the form of a flat plate is mounted in avertically-extending position to the upper left side plate 774 justrearwardly of left front upright beam 36. The lock 958 has a pair ofupper and lower spaced apart slots 1010, 1012 defined therethrough whichreceive respective pins 1014, 1016 fixed to the side plate 774, wherebythe lock 958 may be reciprocably moved vertically toward and away fromthe slide bar 960.

The bottom end of the lock 958 has a rear surface 1018 which tapers to apoint 1020 located at the forward side of the lock 958 and a verticalfront surface 1021 adapted to engage the rear side of an upstandingshoulder 1022 formed on the forward end of the slide bar 960 when thelatter is moved to its forwardmost position. In moving to such position,the front upper corner edge of the shoulder 1022 will engage the taperedrear surface 1018 of the lock 958 and force the lock to move upwardlyuntil the rear upper corner edge of the shoulder 1022 has movedcompletely to the left side of the lower point 1020 and front surface1021 on the lock 958. Once the shoulder 1022 is located on the left sideof the lock's front surface 1021, the lock 958 will drop down behind theshoulder 1022. The lock 958 will now prevent the slide bar 960 frommoving toward the rear, or to the right in FIG. 11. When the lock 958 ispositively lifted or moved upwardly such that its point 1020 is disposedabove the top edge of the shoulder 1022, the slide bar 960 is then freeto move rearwardly.

The upper end of the lock 985 is interconnected to the left cam plate160 of the left portion of the front upper apron takeup-and-expansionmechanism 122 by a cable 1024 which extends over a pulley 1026 rotatablymounted on left front upright beams 36 adjacent its upper end. It willbe seen that counterclockwise rotation of mechanism 122 progressivelylifts the lock 985 upwardly until finally its point 1020 is disposedabove the top edge of the slide bar shoulder 1022.

Referring to FIG. 12, the spool 980 of the front chamber control valve950 is movable between "in" and "out" positions and is schematicallyrepresented at its "in" position. When the spool 950 is at its FIG. 12position, hydraulic fluid under pressure from the pump 746 communicateswith the piston rod end of front chamber opening-and-closing mechanismcylinder 254 via lines 822,824,1028,1030 so as to maintain the cylinder254 in its retracted condition, while the cylinder end of cylinder 254communicates with the tank 748 via lines 1032,1034,840,842. With thecylinder 254 retracted, the front upper apron raising and loweringcomponent 250 (swingable arms 256,258 and cross tube 268) is at itsupper position as seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 11. Also, the floor portionlowering and raising component 252 (the series of ramps 282) is at alowered position, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. When components 250 and 252of the front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72 are disposed atsuch respective positions, the rear end of the front roll formingchamber 68 is open and the layer of crop material being continuouslypicked up from the field by pickup unit 76 and delivered rearwardly bylower apron 80 will pass unimpeded or undisturbed through the frontchamber 68 and into the rear chamber 70 of the mechane 10.

Once the crop material roll being formed in the rear chamber 70substantially reaches the desired maximum size, the hydraulic cylinder678 of the twine wrapping mechanism 75 is caused to extend due to theinteraction of the front takeup-and-expansion mechanism 328 of the rearchamber 70 with the wrapping mechanism slide device 870, as waspreviously described. Extension of the hydraulic cylinder 678 pivotallymoves the twine applying arms 680,682 from their upper (solid line)positions of FIG. 8 to their lower, side (broken line) positions of FIG.8.

However, downward pivotal movement of left twine applying arm 680 alsopulls the portion of cable 988 illustrated in FIG. 8 in a downwarddirection and the portion of the cable 988 illustrated in FIG. 11 in arearward direction which pivots first actuator 954 in a clockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 11, and causes its roller 985 to engageupstanding tab 986 and move slide bar 960 forwardly.

As the slide bar 960 moves forwardly, the yieldable over-centering lever968 pivots clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 11, due to its roller 972 beingforced to move from a left seat position, designated as U, on the detentplate 966 and follow the left side of a downwardly-projecting V-shapedcam surface 1036 thereon, until the lower apex of the cam surface 1036on the detent plate 966 passes the roller 972. Once the apex of the camsurface 1036 has passed to the left of the over-centering lever roller972, the force of spring 974, which biases the over-centering lever 968in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 11, and istransmitted by roller 972 against the right side of cam surface 1036, issufficient to make the slide bar 960 keep moving forwardly until roller972 has reached a right seat position, designated as D, on the detentplate 966 without any further assistance from the twine arm 680 throughcable 988 and actuator 954.

As the slide bar 960 is moved forwardly, or to the left as viewed inFIG. 11, the lock 958 is lifted by shoulder 1022 until the latter passesto the left of lock point 1020, after which the lock 958 drops downbehind or rearwardly of the shoulder 1022.

Also, as the slide bar 960 is moved forwardly, the valve lever 952,being received at its upper end within the coupler 982 on the slide bar960, is pivoted counterclockwise from position I to position 0 (FIG.12). As a result, the spool 980 of the control valve 950 is moved fromits "in" position to its "out" position. When the valve spool 980reaches its "out" position, hydraulic fluid under pressure from pump 746is now supplied along lines 822,824,1028,1032 to the cylinder end offront chamber opening-and-closing mechanism cylinder 254 (and fluid isallowed to return to the tank 748 along lines 1030, 1034, 840, 842 fromthe piston rod end of cylinder 254) which causes extension thereof anddownward pivotal movement of swingable arms 256,258 of front upper apronraising and lowering component 250, simultaneously with upward pivotalmovement of the floor ramps 282 of component 252.

It should be mentioned at this point that within the hydraulic fluidline 1032, a one-way, variable, flow control valve 1038 is interposedwhich may be regulated or manipulated as desired to change the speed atwhich the rear end of the front upper apron is lowered by swingable arms256,258 and thereby, depending upon whether the speed is increased ordecreased, provide for less or more wraps of twine about the oppositeends of the roll. Also, a hydraulic fluid line 1040 which includes aone-way check valve 1042 is interposed as a by-pass around the flowcontrol valve 1038 for allowing free flow of fluid from the cylinder endof cylinder 254 to the tank 748 during retraction of the cylinder 254and, thus, during the raising of the component 250 and lowering of thecomponent 252, or, in other words, during the opening of the rear end ofthe front chamber 68.

Actually, it is important that the opening of the rear end of the frontchamber 68 occur as rapidly as possible so as not to obstruct movementof the roll core by the lower apron 80 toward the rear chamber. If thecore is held up due to slowness in raising of component 250 after thefront upper apron 120 has become inoperative, the lugs 112 of the lowerapron 80 will cut grooves in the core which will inhibit sufficienttraction between the core and apron 80 for positively transferring it tothe rear chamber. The same importance attaches to the opening of therear chamber 70 for discharging a completed roll onto the field.However, slowness in opening the rear end of the rear chamber not onlymay inhibit necessary traction between the roll and the lower apron, butalso may cause the twine wrappings to be severed by the lower apron lugs112.

Continuing on, therefore, when components 250 and 252 of the frontchamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72 are disposed at such respectivelowered and raised positions, the rear end of the front chamber 68 is,in effect, closed and the layer of crop material, being continuouslypicked up from the field by pickup unit 76 and delivered rearwardly bylower apron 80, will now be prevented from exiting from the frontchamber 68 and will become severed or separated from the precedingportions of the layer preferably by the means shown in FIG. 13, oralternatively by the means shown in FIG. 14, both of which will bedescribed in detail later. Also, lowering of the component 250 causesthe front upper apron 120 to be driven, as previously described, and,consequently, roll forming operations begin in the front chamber 68.

Furthermore, the lowering of component 250 caused pedal 876 of thesecond group of control components to become depressed which, as wasexplained earlier, cause the wrapping mechanism valve spool 900 to beshifted to its "in" position which, in turn, caused retraction of thewrapping mechanism cylinder 678 and pivotal movement of the twineapplying arms 680,682 back to their upper positions as twine is appliedto and wrapped about the rotating completed roll in the rear chamber 70.

As the twine arms 680,682 reach their upper positions, the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism cylinders 516,518 are caused to extend, ashas been explained hereinbefore, which causes the twine strands to besevered and the upper frame 324 to pivot to its upper position. As theupper frame approaches its upper position, the rear end of the rearchamber 70 becomes opened enough to allow discharge of the finished andwrapped roll by the lower apron 80. Once the upper frame 324 reaches itsupper position, the rear chamber opening-and-closing mechanism cylinders516,518 are caused to retract, as also has been explained hereinbefore,which now pivots the upper frame 324 down toward its lower position. Thedownward movement of the upper frame 324 and retraction of cylinders516,518 is terminated when lever 818 on actuating arm 766, which ismoving downwardly with the upper frame 324, engages and moves secondarycontrol valve spool 794 to its "lower" position, as has been previouslyexplained. It will be remembered that the upper frame 324 is nowdisposed in its partially closed position 572, as seen in broken lineform in FIG. 7; however, the pivotal arms 484,486 which control theheight of the front inlet opening to the rear chamber 70 are still heldat their raised positions by springs 528,530, whereby the heightdimension of the rear chamber inlet opening is still at a maximum andsufficient enough to allow the movement of the core of the rolltherethrough when discharged from the front chamber 68.

Ordinarily, the downward pivotal movement of the upper frame 324 wouldcause the tab 1008 on actuating arm 766 to engage outer tip 1002 onsecond pivotal actuator 956 and cause clockwise pivoting thereof which,in turn, would pull the slide bar 960 rearwardly via the cable 1004 andspring 1006. The rearward movement of the slide bar 960, if unimpeded,would ultimately cause the valve spool 980 to shift to its "in" positionand thereby cause retraction of front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism cylinder 254 and raising of the component 250, withsimultaneous lowering of the component 252, whereby the rear end of thefront chamber 68 would again be opened and the partially formed roll orcore therein allowed to be moved by the lower apron 80 out of the frontchamber 68 and through the enlarged inlet opening to the rear chamber70.

However, the purpose of the slideable lock 958 is to insure that,although the rear chamber 70 may be set to receive the crop materialroll core from the front chamber 68, transfer of the roll core will notbe allowed to occur until the size of the core being formed in the frontchamber 68 has reached a desired predetermined diameter. Preferably, thediameter selected for the core will fall within the range of 36 to 48inches. A core having a diameter within the aforementioned range tendsto hold together and maintain its transverse alignment to the machine 10during the transfer of the core from the front to the rear chamber bythe lower apron 80. Therefore, continuous roll forming and dischargingoperations may be more consistently performed with the machine 10 whencores of rolls successively formed in the front chamber ultimately havea final diameter falling within the aforementioned range before eachcore is allowed to be transferred to the rear chamber where the rollforming operation will be continued until completion.

The slide bar 960 will be pulled rearwardly via the cable 1004 andspring 1006 until the rear side of the shoulder 1022 engages the frontsurface 1021 of lock 958. However, the slide bar 960 will have movedrearwardly, before being stopped by lock 958, through a displacementsufficient to move the apex of the cam surface 1036 on the detent plate966 from the left side to just slightly past the right side of theover-centering lever roller 972 (see FIG. 20). Therefore, although theroller 972 has moved from its right seat position D on the detent plate966, it has not yet reached the left seat position U. Since the roller972 is now disposed on the left side of the downwardly-projectingV-shaped cam surface 1036, when the lock 958 is lifted to release theslide bar 960, the force of spring 974, which biases the over-centeringlever 968 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 11, and istransmitted by roller 972 against the left side of cam surface 1036, issufficient to make the slide bar 960 move further rearwardly untilroller 972 has reached the left seat position U on the detent plate 966without any further assistance from second actuator 956, cable 1004 andspring 1006. Since, the lock 958 is lifted progressively asthetakeup-and-expansion mechanism 122 of the front chamber 68 rotatescounterclockwise, as viewed in FIG. 11, and, further, since the degreeof angular rotational displacement of the mechanism 122 is directlyrelated to the diameter size of the core formed in the front chamber 68,it is readily apparent that by selection of an appropriate length forthe cable 1024 the desired final diameter for the roll core may beselected.

As the slide bar 960 is further moved rearwardly, or to the right asviewed in FIG. 11, the valve lever 952 is pivoted clockwise to positionI of FIG. 12. As a result, the spool 980 of the control valve 950 ismoved to its 37 in" position. When the valve spool 980 reaches its "in"position, hydraulic fluid under pressure from pump 746 is now suppliedalong lines 822, 824, 1028, 1030 to the piston rod end of front chamberopening-and-closing mechanism cylinder 254 (and fluid is allowed toreturn to the tank 748 along lines 1032, 1040, 1034, 840, 842 from thecylinder end of cylinder 254) which causes retraction thereof and upwardpivotal movement of swingable arms 256,258 of front upper apron raisingand lowering component 250, simultaneously with downward pivotalmovement of the floor ramps 282 of component 252.

When components 250 and 252 of the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 72 are disposed at such respective raised and loweredpositions, the rear end of the front chamber 68 is sufficiently openedto allow transfer of the roll core by the lower apron 80 from the frontchamber 68 through the enlarged inlet opening of the rear chamber 70. Aswas previously described, once the core approaches the rear end of therear chamber 70, the bale trip paddle 804 is depressed by the roll coreand instantaneously the cylinders 516,518 are completely retracted andsimultaneously close the rear end of the rear chamber (by lowering theupper frame 324 from its partially closed to its closed position) andreduce the height dimension of the rear chamber inlet opening from itsmaximum to its minimum (by lowering arms 484,486 from their raised totheir lowered position). Closing of the rear chamber 70 drapes the rearupper apron 326 over the roll core and causes the rear upper apron 326to be driven, as previously described, whereby roll forming operationsbegin in the rear chamber 70.

CROP MATERIAL LAYER DIVERTING MEANS

When the components 250 and 252 of the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 72 are respectively lowered and raised to close the rear endof the front chamber 68 and initiate formation of a roll core in thefront chamber 68, in certain crop materials or conditions somedifficulty has been experienced in segregating or cutting-off theincoming crop material windrow or layer from that which preceded it andhas already passed through the front chamber. In other words, in certaincrop materials or conditions, the mere lowering of the rear end of thefront upper apron 120 and raising of the floor ramps 282 to close therear end of the front chamber 68 are not sufficient to positively divertthe incoming crop material from a rearward path and into an upwardly andforwardly path so as to initiate formation of the roll core.

The preferred means which may be incorporated into the machine 10 forpositively diverting the incoming crop material for starting a roll corein the front chamber 68 is illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14. Analternative form of diverting means which may be incorporated into themachine, but which is less satisfactory than the preferred means inlighter crop materials, is shown in FIGS. 15 and 16.

Referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, there is illustrated a tube 1044 whichwhen provided in the machine 10 also becomes part of the front upperapron raising and lowering component 250. The tube 1044 has fixedlymounted adjacent its opposite ends the respective left and right lowerrear guide sprockets 184,186, previously described as being respectivelyrotatably secured to the other ends of brackets 270,272 (see FIG. 6).Now, the opposite ends of the tube 1044, when it is provided in themachine 10, would be rotatably mounted to respective outer ends ofbrackets 270,272. Also, the tube 1044 has fixedly mounted thereto thepair of spaced apart annular guide hubs 274,276 at spaced apartintermediate locations between the ends of the tube 1044. The hubs274,276 were previously described as being respectively rotatablysecured to the outer ends of respective brackets 278,280 (FIG. 6). Now,the tube 1044 would also be rotatably mounted to respective outer endsof brackets 278,280.

The preferred diverting means takes the form of groups 1046 of fourteeth being spaced apart one group from the next axially along the tube1044. In each group, the four teeth, 1048, 1050, 1052, 1054 arerespectively mounted at their inner ends to the tube 1044 atcircumferentially spaced and slightly axially offset locations about andalong the tube 1044. The teeth each radially extend outwardly from thetube 1044 to a tapered outer end which extends past the sprockets184,186 and terminates at a point.

Accordingly, crop material being delivered along a rearward path bylower apron toward the closed rear end of the front chamber 68 will beaggressively engaged by the clockwise rotating groups of fingers (asviewed in FIG. 14) and caused to take an upward and forward path,thereby segregating or severing the material from the precedingmaterial. The transverse bars 128 of the front upper apron 120, aftermoving around the hubs 274,276, move along an upward path which crossesthe circular path transversed by the pointed tips of the rotating groupsof severing fingers, 1048, 1050, 1052, 1054 whereby the bars 128 willnaturally perform the function of stripping crop material from thefingers once the fingers have aggressively change the direction ofmovement of the crop material.

Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, there is illustrated the alternativediverting means which takes the form of a series of three U-shapedchannels 1056, 1058, 1060 being clamped by fasteners 1002 aboutapproximately every third one of the transverse bars 128 of the frontupper apron 120 at spaced apart locations axially along the bar 128. Asthe front upper apron 120 moves in a clockwise direction, as viewed inFIG. 1, and individual bars pass about lower rear hubs 274,276, theopposite leg portions 1064,1066 of each channel extend radiallyoutwardly from the hubs to longitudinal edges which will aggressivelyengage the crop material, cause it to become severed from the precedingmaterial and turn it into an upward and forward direction.

CONTINUOUS ROLL FORMING, WRAPPING AND DISCHARGING OPERATIONS

FIGS. 1, 2 and 11 illustrate the machine 10 set up for the commencementof roll forming operation in the rear chamber 70 of the machine.

As seen in FIG. 11, in the first group of control components, theover-centering lever roller 782 is disposed at the left seat position Don the detent plate 776 of the rear chamber slide bar 768 and therebythe rear chamber primary control valve spool 790 is at its "out"position. The components 512,514 of the rear chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 74 are at their lowered positions due to the primary valvespool 790 being at its "out" position and, particularly, due to the rearchamber secondary control valve spool 794 having been manually moved bythe machine operator to its "upper" position. This is the only instance(i.e., at the commencement of operations when machine 10 is empty) wherethe movement of any component of the machine has to be done manually bythe operator, that is, other than manual actuation and de-actuation ofthe tractor pto shaft by the operator.

In the second group of components, the over-centering lever roller 892is disposed at the right seat position U on the detent plate 886 of thewrapping mechanism slide bar 880 and thereby the wrapping mechanismcontrol valve spool 900 is at its "in" position. The twine applying arms680,682 of wrapping mechanism 75 are disposed at their upper positionsdue to the control valve spool 900 being at its "in" position.

In the third group of control components, the over-centering leverroller 972 is disposed at the left seat position U on the detent plate966 of the front chamber slide bar 960 and thereby the front chambercontrol valve spool 980 is at its "in" position. The components 250,252of the front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72 are disposed intheir respective raised and lowered positions such that the front upperapron 120 is stationary and the rear end of the front chamber 68 isopen.

FIGS. 17 through 24 schematically illustrate the successive stages ofthe operations performed by the machine 10, as it is moved across thefield, in continuously picking up crop material, such as windrowed hayor the like, from the field and then forming, wrapping and discharginglarge rolls or round bales of the crop material. FIGS. 17A through 24Aschematically illustrate the relative positions of some of the controlcomponents in the three, previously-described groups thereof at thevarious stages of the operations performed by the machine 10correspondingly depicted in FIGS. 17 through 24.

In FIG. 17, the machine is set up the same as shown in FIG. 1 for rearchamber roll forming operation, with the control components shown inFIG. 17A being set up the same as depicted in FIG. 11. As illustrated,the machine 10 is being towed across the field by a tractor (not shown)with the tractor pto in operation. With the pto rotating, the pickupunit 76 is continuously picking up windrowed crop material from thefield and delivering it rearwardly to the front end of the floor 78 andthe upper course of the lower apron 80. The apron 80 is moving the cropmaterial rearwardly through the open front chamber 68 and into the rearchamber 70 toward the closed rear end of the latter. In the rear chamber70, the upper course of the lower apron 80 and the lower course of therear upper apron 326 are moving in opposite directions and thereby arerolling the incoming crop material in a counterclockwise direction intoa roll. The roll has formed to a diameter size sufficiently large enoughto engage and cause the auxiliary guide members 500,502 (not shown inFIG. 17) for the rear upper apron 326 of the rear chamber 70 to pivotoutwardly.

The above-described rear chamber roll forming operation continues andthe relative positions of the machine components remain the same as seenin FIGS. 17 and 17A, until the roll of crop material approaches itsdesired maximum diameter size, as illustrated in FIG. 18.

In FIG. 18, the crop material roll being formed in the rear chamber 70has about reached its desired final size. In doing so, the roll hascaused counterclockwise rotation of the front takeup-and-expansionmechanism 328 of the rear chamber (in yielding to expansion of the rearupper apron 326) to the point where its tab 932 has engaged and movedlatch 878 and therewith wrapping mechanism slide bar 880 rearwardlysufficiently enough to cause the over-centering lever roller 892 tochange from its right seat position U, shown in FIG. 17A, to its leftseat position D, shown in FIG. 18A, on the detent plate 886 of thewrapping mechanism slide bar 880. Such movement of the slide bar 880causes the wrapping mechanism control valve spool 900 to move from its37 in" to its "out" position. Movement of the spool 900 to its "out"position causes extension of the wrapping mechanism hydraulic cylinder678 and thereby movement of the twine applying arms 680,682 from theirupper, overlapped positions toward their lower, side positions.

FIG. 19 shows the twine applying arms 680,682 reaching their lower, sidepositions which initiates closing of the rear end of the front chamber68.

Specifically, closing of the front chamber rear end occurs as follows.As the left twine applying arm 680 pivotally moves downwardly andapproaches its lower position, it pulls cable 968 downwardly which viathe first actuator 954 moves the front chamber slide bar 960 forwardlysufficiently enough to cause the over-centering lever roller 972 tochange from its left seat position U, shown in FIG. 18A, to its rightseat position D, shown in FIG. 19A, on the detent plate 966 of the frontchamber slide bar 960. Such movement of the slide bar 960 causes thefront chamber control valve spool 980 to move from its "in" to its "out"position. Movement of the spool 980 to its "out" position causesextension of the front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism cylinder254. As the cylinder 254 extends, the swingable arms 256,258 of thefront chamber opening-and-closing mechanism component 250 pivotally movedownwardly while the floor ramps 282 of the component 252 pivotally moveupwardly, to close the rear end of the front chamber 68.

However, the twine applying arms 680,682 reach their lower positionsbefore the front chamber opening-and-closing mechanism 72 has closed therear end of the front chamber 68. When the arms 680,682 have reachedtheir lower positions, the free ends of the twine strands are placed onthe lower apron 80 forwardly of and adjacent to the opposite ends of theroll formed in the rear chamber 70. The upper course of the lower apron80 carries the free ends of the strands under the rotating roll alongwith final portions of the crop material which were moved through thefront chamber before the rear end of the latter was fully closed. Thecontinuing rotation of the rear chamber roll by the rear upper apron 326and the lower apron 80 moves the strands about the roll and pullsadditional portions of the continuous strands through the arms 680,682.

About the time the roll has completely rotated one or so times so thatthe strands of twine encircle the circumferential end portions of theroll about one or so times, the components 250,252 of the front chamberopening-and-closing mechanism 72 reach their respective positions whichclose the rear end of the front chamber 68.

FIG. 20 shows the components 250,252 of the front chamberopening-and-closing mechanism 72 at their respective lowered and raisedpositions which causes clockwise movement of the front upper apron 120,engagement of the lower course of the front upper apron 120 with theauxiliary guide members 238,240 of the front chamber 68 to define theinitial roll forming area of the front chamber 68 with the lower apron80, and severance of the incoming crop material at the rear end of thefront chamber from the preceding portions of crop material which hadjust passed through the front chamber rear end before it was fullyclosed. Therefore, the formation of a partial roll or core of cropmaterial is initiated in the front chamber between the rearwardly-movingupper course of the lower apron 80 and the forwardly-moving lower courseof the front upper apron 120.

Also, when the component 250 of the front chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 72 reaches its lowered position, the twine applying arms680,682 are caused to pivotally move from their lower, side positionsback up toward their upper, overlapped positions.

Specifically, the return of the twine applying arms 680,682 to theirupper positions occurs as follows. The left end of cross tube 265 offront chamber opening-and-closing mechanism component 250 depressespedal 876 which pulls downwardly on cable 906 and moves wrappingmechanism slide device 870 forwardly sufficiently enough to cause theover-centering lever roller 892 to change from its left seat position D,shown in FIG. 19A, to its right seat position U, shown on the detentplate 886 of the wrapping mechanism slide bar 880. Such movement of theslide bar 880 causes the wrapping mechanism control valve spool 900 tomove from its "out" to its "in" position. Movement of the spool 900 toits "out" position causes retraction of the wrapping mechanism hydrauliccylinder 678 and thereby movement of the twine applying arms 680,682from their lower, side positions, as shown in dotted line form in FIG.20, toward their upper, overlapped positions, as illustrated in solidline form in FIG. 20.

As the twine applying arms 680,682 move upwardly, the tips of armextensions 702,704 (FIG. 8) sweep upwardly along opposite arcuate pathsof travel which progressively bring the tips toward each other, untilthey cross or overlap near the top of the paths, and feed the strandsfrom the extension tips downwardly and along the bottom of the rotatingrear chamber roll progressively from its opposite ends toward itscenter. Consequently, by the time the arms 680,682 reach their upperpositions, strands of twine have been wrapped about the roll in ahelical or spiralling fashion over the entire circumferential area ofthe roll and the remaining portions of the strands extending between theroll and the extension tips of the twine applying arms arecentrally-located and extend downwardly through the notch 722 of thetwine cutting means 676.

FIG. 20 also shows the components 512,514 of the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism 74 being actuated to open the rear end ofthe rear chamber 70 and to increase the height dimension of the frontinlet opening of the rear chamber 70 to its predetermined maximum, whenthe twine applying arms 680,682 reach their upper positions.

Specifically, actuation of the rear chamber opening-and-closingmechanism 74 occurs as follows. As the left twine applying arm 680pivotally moves upwardly and approaches its upper position, the pin 844on the twine arm engages and pivotally moves the tab 846 in a clockwisedirection which pulls cable 854 downwardly and thereby moves the rearchamber slide bar 768 forwardly sufficiently enough to cause theover-centering lever roller 782 to change from its left seat position D,shown in FIG. 19A, to its right seat position U, shown in FIG. 20A, onthe detent plate 776 of the rear chamber slide bar 768. Such movement ofthe slide bar 768 causes the rear chamber control valve spool 790 tomove from its "out" position to its "in" position. Movement of the spool790 to its "in" position causes extension of the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism cylinders 516,518. As the cylinders516,518 extend, the upper frame 324 and pivotal arms 484,486 pivotallymove upwardly from their respective positions of FIG. 20 to theirrespective positions of FIG. 21. As the pivotal arms 484,486 pivotallymove upwardly from their lower positions, the twine strands extendingthrough notch 722 of the twine cutting means 676 are severed by theknife element 728.

As the upper frame 324 approaches its upper position, designated as 574in FIG. 7, the clockwise movement of the rear upper apron 326 terminatesand the rear end of the rear chamber 70 is sufficiently opened for thecompleted and twine wrapped roll to be discharged from the machine 10onto the field by the lower apron 80 (as shown in phantom outline inFIG. 21). The pivotal arms 484,486 had already reached their upperpositions which increased the height dimension of the rear chamber to amaximum large enough to allow the transfer of the roll core therethroughwhen discharged from the front chamber 68, as seen in phantom in FIG.23.

FIG. 21 shows a roll core having formed in the closed front chamber 68to a diameter size sufficiently large enough to engage and cause theauxiliary guide members 238,240 (not shown in FIG. 21) for the frontupper apron 120 of the front chamber 68 to pivot outwardly. However, theroll core has not yet reached its desired maximum diameter size at whichit would then be ready for transfer to the rear chamber 70.

FIG. 21 also shows the upper frame 324 of the rear chamber 70 havingreached its uppermost position and just starting on its pivotal returnmovement back down toward its lower position.

Specifically, changing the direction of pivotal movement of the upperframe 324 occurs as follows. As the upper frame 324 reaches its upperposition, the tab 864 fixed thereon has pivoted counterclockwisesufficiently enough to pull cable 866 rearwardly which moves the rearchamber slide bar 768 rearwardly sufficiently enough to cause theover-centering lever roll 782 to change from its right seat position U,shown in FIG. 20A, to its left seat position D, shown in FIG. 21A, onthe detent plate 776 of the rear chamber slide bar 768. Such movement ofthe slide bar 768 causes the rear chamber primary control valve spool790 to move from its "in" to its "out" position. Movement of the spool790 to its "out" position causes retraction of the rear chamberopening-and-closing mechanism cylinders 516,518. As the cylinders516,518 retract, the upper frame 324 pivotally moves downwardly from itsupper position 574 of FIG. 7 toward its lower position.

FIG. 22 illustrates the upper frame 324 of the rear chamber 70 havingmoved downwardly until it reached its partially opened position 572 ofFIG. 7 at which position its movement was stopped and it remains thereuntil the roll core has been transferred into the rear chamber 70 fromthe front chamber 68.

Specifically, termination of the movement of the upper frame 324 at itspartially opened position 572 occurs when the secondary control valvespool 794 is moved from its "upper" position of FIG. 17A to its "lower"position of FIG. 22A due to engagement of the front end of lever 818 onthe actuating arm 766, which moves downwardly with the upper frame 324,with the flat plate 820 fixed on the upper end of the secondary valvespool 794. While the rear end of the rear chamber 70 is now partiallyopened (or partially closed), the pivotal arms 484,486 which control theheight of the front inlet opening to the rear chamber 70 are still heldat their raised positions by springs 528,530, whereby the heightdimension of the rear chamber inlet opening is still at a maximum andsufficiently large enough to allow transfer of the roll coretherethrough when discharged from the front chamber 68.

Although the roll core illustrated in FIG. 22 has still not yet reachedits desired maximum diameter size at which it would be ready fortransfer to the rear chamber 70, the position of the over-centeringlever roller 972 has been changed from its right seat position D, shownin FIG. 21A, to just to the left side of the apex on the detent plate966 as shown in FIG. 22A. Such change is brought about due to rearwardmovement of the front chamber slide bar 960 via cable 1004 which ispulled rearwardly when the second pivotal actuator 956 is pivotedclockwise upon being engaged by tab 1008 on the actuating arm 766 whenthe latter is moved downwardly with the upper frame 324 from the upperposition to the partially opened position of the upper frame 324. Theslide bar 960 is prevented from moving further rearwardly, which wouldallow the over-centering lever roller 972 to reach its left seatposition U on detent plate 966 and thereby initiate opening of the rearend of the front chamber 68, due to engagement of the slideable lock 958with the rear side of the front shoulder 1022 on the front chamber slidebar 960, as seen in FIG. 22A.

In FIG. 23, the roll core in the front chamber 68 has now reached itsdesired size and is ready for transfer to the rear chamber 70.Therefore, the rear end of the front chamber 68 is in the process ofopening so that the lower apron 80 can carry the roll core through therear chamber inlet opening and into the rear chamber, as shown inphantom in FIGS. 23 and 24.

Opening of the front chamber 68 occurs as follows. As the roll core inthe front chamber 68 grows in size, the takeup-and-expansion mechanism122 of the front chamber is caused to rotate counterclockwise (inyielding to expansion of the front upper apron 120) to the point wherethe slideable lock 958 is lifted above the front shoulder 1022 on thefront chamber slide bar 960 and the latter is thereby released by thelock 958 and allowed to move further rearwardly until over-centeringlever roller 972 reaches its left seat position, shown in FIG. 23A. Suchfurther rearward movement of the slide bar 960 causes the front chambercontrol valve spool 980 to move to its "in" position. Movement of thespool 980 to its "in" position causes retraction of the front chamberopening-and-closing mechanism cylinder 254 and thereby simultaneousupward pivoting of swingable arms 256,258 and downward pivoting of thefloor ramps 282, as well as termination of the clockwise movement of thefront upper apron 120.

FIG. 24 shows the rear end of the front chamber 68 completely opened, asseen earlier in FIG. 17. The roll core has been moved by lower apron 80through the rear open end of the front chamber 68, through the enlargedfront inlet opening of the rear chamber 70 and onto the bale trip paddle804 in the floor of the rear chamber 70 which depressed the paddle 804and thereby via cable 802 and lever 762 pushed the secondary controlvalve spool 794 upwardly from its "lower" position, shown in FIG. 22A,back to its "upper" position, as seen in FIG. 24A. Movement of the spool794 to its "upper" position causes the rear chamber opening-and-closingmechanism cylinders 516,518 to fully retract and the upper frame 324 topivot downwardly from its partially raised position of FIG. 23 to itsfully lowered position of FIG. 24 which fully closes the rear end of therear chamber 70, and simultaneously the pivotal arms 484,486 to movedownwardly to their lower positions which reduces the height dimensionof the rear chamber front inlet opening to a minimum. Also, the completelowering of the upper frame 324 initiates clockwise movement of the rearupper apron 326 which is now draped over the roll core and continues toadd incoming crop material about the outersurface of the roll core inthe rear chamber 70.

The successive stages in the continuous operations performed by themachine 10 are now repeated beginning with completion of the rearchamber roll forming operation, as shown in FIG. 18.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description and it will beapparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction andarrangement of the parts of the machine described without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its materialadvantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred orexemplary embodiment thereof.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:
 1. In a cropmaterial roll forming machine, the combination comprising:a mobile frameadapted to move across a field; crop material delivery means supportedby said frame; a first upper apron assembly supported by said frame andmounted above a first portion of said delivery means, said first upperapron assembly and said first delivery means portion defining a firstroll forming region; a second upper apron assembly supported by saidframe and mounted above a second portion of said delivery means, saidsecond upper apron assembly and said second delivery means portiondefining a second roll forming region; and means to drive at least apart of said delivery means in a predetermined direction for deliveringcrop material from the field to said first and second roll formingregions and also to drive at least a part of each of said first andsecond upper apron assemblies in a direction opposite to that of saidpart of said delivery means for performing roll forming operations atsaid regions.
 2. A machine as recited in claim 1, further comprising:amechanism supported by said frame above said delivery means at alocation generally between said first and second upper apron assemblies,said mechanism being operable to cause wrapping of a roll formed at saidsecond region with twine or the like.
 3. A machine as recited in claim2, wherein said twine wrapping mechanism includes a twine applyingcomponent, a twine severing component and means for moving said applyingcomponent relative to the roll to cause the wrapping of twine or thelike about the roll.
 4. A machine as recited in claim 1, wherein saidfirst upper apron assembly and said delivery means, when their movableparts are driven, are cooperable with each other to initiate formationof a core of a roll of crop material to a first size at said firstregion.
 5. A machine as recited in claim 4, wherein said delivery means,when its movable part is driven, is cooperable with said upper apronassemblies to transfer said roll core from said first region to saidsecond region.
 6. A machine as recited in claim 5, wherein said secondupper apron assembly and said delivery means, when their movable partsare driven, are cooperable with each other to complete formation of theroll to a second size greater than said first size of said roll core atsaid second region.
 7. A machine as recited in claim 6, wherein saiddelivery means, when its movable part is driven, is cooperable with saidsecond upper apron assembly to discharge the completed roll from thesecond region.
 8. A machine as recited in claim 7, further comprising:amechanism supported by said frame above said delivery means at alocation generally between said first and second upper apron assemblies,said mechanism being operable to cause wrapping of a roll completelyformed at said second region with twine or the like prior to dischargeof said completed roll from said second region.
 9. In a crop materialroll forming machine, the combination comprising:a mobile frame adaptedto move across a field; crop material delivery means supported by saidframe and including means movable for conveying crop material in apredetermined direction; a front upper apron; means movably mountingsaid front upper apron to said frame above a front portion of saiddelivery means to define a front roll forming region therebetween, saidfront upper apron being movable in a direction opposite to saidpredetermined direction for performing roll forming operation at saidfront region; a rear upper apron; means movably mounting said rear upperapron to said frame above a rear portion of said delivery means todefine a rear roll forming region therebetween, said rear upper apronbeing movable in a direction opposite to said predetermined directionfor performing roll forming operation at said rear region; and drivemeans for moving said conveying means and said front and rear upperaprons.
 10. A machine as recited in claim 9, wherein said means movablymounting said front upper apron includes:takeup-and-expansion meansmovably mounted to said frame and engaging said front upper apron; andtension means attached to said frame and connected to saidtakeup-and-expansion means so as to bias the latter means toward a firstposition which in turn biases said front upper apron toward a contractedposition, said tension means being yieldable to allow saidtakeup-and-expansion means to move away from said first position whichin turn allows said front upper apron to progressively expand againstsaid biasing as said crop material roll being formed at said frontregion grows in diameter.
 11. A machine as recited in claim 9, whereinsaid means movably mounting said rear upper apronincludes:takeup-and-expansion means movably mounted to said frame andengaging said rear upper apron; and tension means attached to said frameand connected to said takeup-and-expansion means so as to bias thelatter means toward a first position which in turn biases said rearupper apron toward a contracted position, said tension means beingyieldable to allow said takeup-and-expansion means to move away fromsaid first position which in turn allows said rear upper apron toprogressively expand against said biasing as said crop material rollbeing formed at said rear region grows in diameter.
 12. A machine asrecited in claim 9, wherein:said means movably mounting said front upperapron includes front takeup-and-expansion means movably mounted to saidframe and engaging said front upper apron and first tension meansattached to said frame and connected to said front takeup-and-expansionmeans so as to bias the latter means toward an initial position which inturn biases said front upper apron toward a contracted position, saidfirst tension means being yieldable to allow said fronttakeup-and-expansion means to move away from said initial position whichin turn allows said front upper apron to progressively expand againstsaid biasing as said crop material roll being formed at said frontregion grows in diameter; and said means movably mounting said rearupper apron includes rear takeup-and-expansion means movably mounted tosaid frame and engaging said rear upper apron and second tension meansattached to said frame and connected to said rear takeup-and-expansionmeans so as to bias the latter means toward an initial position which inturn biases said rear upper apron toward a contracted position, saidsecond tension means being yieldable to allow said reartakeup-and-expansion means to move away from said initial position whichin turn allows said rear upper apron to progressively expand againstsaid biasing as said crop material roll being formed at said rear regiongrows in diameter.
 13. In a crop material roll forming machine, thecombination comprising:a mobile frame adapted to move across a field;crop material delivery means supported by said frame and at least a partthereof being movable in a predetermined direction so as to deliver cropmaterial from adjacent a forward end toward a rearward end of saidframe; front upper flexible means supported by said frame and movablymounted above a front portion of said delivery means, said front upperflexible means and said front delivery means portion defining a frontroll forming region between opposite sides of said frame, said frontupper flexible means being movable in a predetermined directiongenerally opposite to that of said delivery means part for performingroll forming operation at said front region; rear upper flexible meanssupported by said frame and movably mounted above a rear portion of saiddelivery means, said rear upper flexible means and said rear deliverymeans portion defining a rear roll forming region between opposite sidesof said frame, said rear upper flexible means being movable in apredetermined direction generally opposite to that of said deliverymeans part for performing roll forming operation at said rear region;drive means for respectively moving said delivery means part and saidfront and rear upper flexible means; and means on said frame supportinga rear portion of said front upper flexible means and being movable forraising and lowering said rear portion thereof to thereby respectivelyfacilitate the opening of said front region for the passage of cropmaterial therethrough to said rear region and the closing of said frontregion for the performance of roll forming operation therein, saidraising and lowering means effectuating the coupling of said drive meanswith said front upper flexible means to move the same when said rearportion thereof is lowered and the uncoupling of said drive means fromsaid front upper flexible means to render the same stationary when saidrear portion thereof is raised.
 14. A machine as recited in claim 13,wherein:said drive means includes driven means mounted on said frame anddrivingly engaging said front upper flexible means, rotary driving meansmounted on said frame and flexible power transmitting means extendingbetween and normally inoperatively interconnecting said rotary drivingmeans and said driven means; and actuating means is mounted on saidframe adjacent said transmitting means for movement toward and intoengagement with the same to cause the same to provide an operativedriving interconnection between said rotary driving means and saiddriven means which in turn moves said front flexible means, said raisingand lowering means being interconnected to said actuating means so as tomove the same toward and away from said transmitting means when the rearportion of said front flexible means is respectively lowered and raised.15. In a crop material roll forming machine, the combinationcomprising:a mobile frame adapted to move across a field; crop materialdelivery means supported by said frame and at least a part thereof beingmovable in a predetermined direction so as to deliver crop material froma forward end toward a rearward end of said frame; front upper flexiblemeans supported by said frame and movably mounted above a front portionof said delivery means, said front upper flexible means and said frontdelivery means portion defining a front roll forming region betweenopposite sides of said frame, said front upper flexible means beingmovable in a predetermined direction generally opposite to that of saiddelivery means part for performing roll forming operation at said frontregion; rear upper flexible means supported by said frame and movablymounted above a rear portion of said delivery means, said rear upperflexible means and said rear delivery means portion defining a rear rollforming region between opposite sides of said frame, said rear upperflexible means being movable in a predetermined direction generallyopposite to that of said delivery means part for performing roll formingoperation at said rear region; drive means for respectively moving saiddelivery means part and said front and rear upper flexible means; andmeans on said frame supporting a rear portion of said rear upperflexible means and being movable for raising and lowering said rearportion thereof to thereby respectively facilitate the opening of saidrear region for discharging a crop material roll therefrom and theclosing of said rear region for the performance of roll formingoperation therein, said raising and lowering means effectuating thecoupling of said drive means with said rear upper flexible means to movethe same when said rear portion thereof is lowered and the uncoupling ofsaid drive means from said rear upper flexible means to render the samestationary when said rear portion thereof is raised.
 16. A machine asrecited in claim 15, wherein:said drive means includes driven meansmounted on said frame and drivingly engaging said rear upper flexiblemeans, rotary driving means mounted on said frame and flexible powertransmitting means extending between and normally inoperativelyinterconnecting said rotary driving means and said driven means; andactuating means is mounted on said frame adjacent said transmittingmeans for movement toward and into engagement with the same to cause thesame to provide an operative driving interconnection between said rotarydriving means and said driven means which in turn moves said rearflexible means, said raising and lowering means being interconnected tosaid actuating means so as to move the same toward and away from saidtransmitting means when the rear portion of said rear flexible means isrespectively lowered and raised.
 17. In a crop material roll formingmachine, the combination comprising:a mobile frame adapted to moveacross a field; crop material delivery means supported by said frame andat least a part thereof being movable in a predetermined direction so asto deliver crop material from a forward end toward a rearward end ofsaid frame; front upper flexible means supported by said frame andmovably mounted above a front portion of said delivery means, said frontupper flexible means and said front delivery means portion defining afront roll forming region between opposite sides of said frame, saidfront upper flexible means being movable in a predetermined directiongenerally opposite to that of said delivery means part for performingroll forming operation at said front region; rear upper flexible meanssupported by said frame and movably mounted above a rear portion of saiddelivery means, said rear upper flexible means and said rear deliverymeans portion defining a rear roll forming region between opposite sidesof said frame, said rear upper flexible means being movable in apredetermined direction generally opposite to that of said deliverymeans part for performing roll forming operation at said rear region;drive means for respectively moving said delivery means part and saidfront and rear upper flexible means; front means on said framesupporting a rear portion of said front upper flexible means and beingmovable for raising and lowering said rear portion of said front upperflexible means, said front raising and lowering means effectuating thecoupling of said drive means with said front upper flexible means tomove the same when said rear portion thereof is lowered and theuncoupling of said drive means from said front upper flexible means torender the same stationary when said rear portion thereof is raised; andrear means on said frame supporting a rear portion of said rear upperflexible means and being movable for raising and lowering said rearportion of said rear upper flexible means, said raising and loweringmeans effectuating the coupling of said drive means with said rear upperflexible means to move the same when said rear portion thereof islowered and the uncoupling of said drive means from said rear upperflexible means to render the same stationary when said rear portionthereof is raised.
 18. In a crop material roll forming machine, thecombination comprising:a mobile frame adapted to move across a field; afloor supported by said frame and adapted to receive crop material;conveying means supported by said frame and a portion thereof beingmovable in a predetermined direction relative to said floor so as toconvey said crop material along said floor; a first upper apron assemblysupported by said frame and mounted above a first portion of said floor,said first upper apron assembly and said first floor portion defining afirst roll forming region, a portion of said first upper apron assemblybeing movable in a direction opposite to that of said portion of saidconveying means for performing roll forming operation at said firstregion; and a second upper apron assembly supported by said frame andmounted above a second portion of said floor, said second upper apronassembly and said second floor portion defining a second roll formingregion, a portion of said second upper apron assembly being movable in adirection opposite to that of said portion of said conveying means forperforming roll forming operation at said second region.
 19. A machineas recited in claim 18, further comprising:a mechanism supported by saidframe above said floor at a location generally between said first andsecond upper apron assemblies, said mechanism being operable to causewrapping of a roll formed at said second region with twine or the like.20. A machine as recited in claim 19, wherein said twine wrappingmechanism includes a twine applying component, a twine severingcomponent and means for moving said applying component relative to theroll to cause the wrapping of twine or the like about the roll.